


Hereditary

by shellalana



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Caves, Found Family, Gen, Guardians (Borderlands) - Freeform, How to Become a Siren 101, Mad Scientists, Other, Parental Expectations, Psychological Torture, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-01-23 01:50:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellalana/pseuds/shellalana
Summary: Nelinha is the daughter of a famous Crimson Raider and a Siren. Growing up on Sanctuary III wasn't easy and she's eager to make a life for herself trying to get out from under their shadows. A pretty good marksman, she works missions for the Raiders with her pet, Diablo, at her side. But when one particular mission pulls her deep into the mysteries of the Eridians, her chance for a normal life is completely torn apart.
Kudos: 6





	1. Flurmp Dampst Didn't Win... Or Did He?

**Author's Note:**

> ๏ This is my first attempt actually publishing one of my Nanowrimo stories for others to read. I've done 4 in the past, but none of them had felt solid enough to share with other people.  
๏ I know this looks like a very OC-forward fanfic, and if that's not your cup of tea, that's okay. :) Credits for all characters will be at the beginning of each chapter with a link to their owner's account (twitter/tumblr).  
๏ This has been loosely proofread and edited, so the content is still mostly raw. Please don't hold this against me.  
๏ More tags will be added as I write more chapters.  
๏ Also, please keep in mind that I have not finished Borderlands 3 yet so please don't be too critical if the lore I write here is much different than what happens in-game. As far as this story is concerned, none of the events of 3 have taken place. With that said, please don't write spoilers in the comments. They will be deleted.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha is sent on a mission to retrieve an item for Hammerlock and is met with one of the most difficult Goliaths ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Flurmp Dampst belongs to @AdamHyubusa (twitter) (thank you for letting me use the name for a throw-away character)

Hot wind whipped at her hair, tussling at the dark magenta braids tucked between her neck and shoulder. The scope pressed to her eye, Nelinha had been tracking this target for the past few weeks. He’d stolen something from the people she worked for - an adoptive family of sorts - and she’d been sent to get it back.

A goliath, but not like any goliath she’d ever met before. The smartest one she’d ever tailed, but still not something to brag about. Who wanted to be known as the person who caught someone called Flurmp Dampst?

He’d found a nice refuge in some abandoned buildings and was settled outside, his meaty arm folded across his belly. By the way his head bobbed and rocked, Nelinha could tell that he was fighting off sleep.

She could do this the easy way, wait until he was out cold, sneak up, and steal it off him. Or she could put a bullet through his head and face the terror of a rampaging goliath. It meant not having to walk all the way there and back, but she didn’t like loose ends or wearing out her new leather boots.

“Have you found him yet?” A deep voice whispered in her ear and startled her thoughts away from her decision. Throwing the earpiece away would have been easy; she was tired of always being monitored. She was almost twenty-two, dammit.

Still, she couldn’t just ignore her father.

“Yeah. And I’m not gonna get done any sooner if you keep bugging me.” She ran her sleeve across her brow to keep the sweat at bay. She was already battling with the heat; she didn’t need an argument with him too. “Let me do my job, please.”

“Awright, awright. No need to get snippy.”

“I’m  _ not _ getting snippy. I just don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be and you’re-” She bit back on her words, put the rifle down, and skirted back from the edge of her hiding place. She wasn’t going to be able to get the job done if she couldn’t keep her temper under wraps. At least the small sliver of shade she found offered cooler temperatures.

Nelinha Ijeoma wasn’t a woman to be messed with when she was on the clock. She took her job very seriously, running jobs for the Crimson Raiders. Her parents were two of them, both with legendary reputations that preceded her birth. Her father, one of the originals, a man who could fire a sniper rifle with deadly accuracy; her mother, a Siren. There were some perks that came with being the child of two supposed heroes, but her life wasn’t all roses.

People expected things of her, expected her to live up to their stories and become a legend in her own right. She felt she had to be better than everyone else, prove herself to anyone and everyone who crossed her path, even the people that didn’t matter. A self-imposed burden she carried all on her own… and she was starting to get a little sick of it.

She knew what her parents thought of her too; they told her every day how proud they were of her, told her what a good job she was doing after each mission. She so badly wanted to believe them, but something within her was starting to doubt their constant reassurance. Like they were only doing it because she was their child.

The edge of a cool, sharp rock pressed against the back of her neck and stilled her thoughts. She still had a job to do, not throw a pity party for herself.

“I’ll let you know when I’m done. Not before.”

“Nel-”

She removed the earpiece and shoved it into her pocket. She knew how her father could be since they shared the same temper. Short when pushed and explosive when pushed too far. Their arguments were intense but brief, neither really wanting to hurt the other but always wanting to have their say. It was that intensity that made her want to follow in his footsteps in the first place. She’d admired his fire from a young age, saw the way he’d flaunt his talents. She wanted to be cool, just like him, and was driven to passion in every task she gave herself.

“Alright, Nel. You can do this. You just have to decide  _ how _ you’re going to do it.” She turned around and made the short climb back up again, the rifle exactly where she’d left it. Peering through the scope, she could see that Flurmp was sleeping. The slow rising of his chest and the way his arm slipped from his belly told her he was down for the count.

A third alternative came to mind, but it would mean finding Diablo and getting her to cooperate was never easy. A quick glance at the cloudless sky and the immediate surroundings revealed nothing. Diablo was likely on one of her hunts again. Or sulking. It was always one of the two.

Nelinha gave two sharp whistles and waited. They echoed dully off the jutting rock walls until they, too, were nothing. Flurmp still hadn’t moved an inch, though she was sure her whistles couldn’t have gotten that far.

“Unreliable little shit…” Nelinha didn’t know where she went wrong, trying to train that bird. She thought an imposing name would inspire…  _ something _ in it, but all she got out of the creature was conflict and disobedience. It wasn’t like she could trade it in for a new bird, either. Talon was beyond her egg-laying years and enjoying retirement just fine. The other chicks had been claimed by Nelinha’s sisters years ago and her father refused to take Diablo back. “You made your choice,” he’d said, after she’d been the first to the nest and claimed one of the eggs as hers.

_ No take-backsies _ . It was one rule of her family that could never be broken.

The smile on her father’s face that day clouded her mind as she looked through the scope once more. The easier route was looking like a more attractive option. If he went into a rampage, he could easily break what he’d stolen, and that wouldn’t earn her any marks in anyone’s book. Nelinha sucked on her teeth as she rose from her prostrate position and strapped her rifle to her back. She tied back her braids into a bun on the back of her head and shoved her hands into the pockets of her vest.

Anyone who came along would have mistaken her for a simple traveler: her outfit of leather mixed with colourful, patterned fabrics were eclectic enough to say “well-traveled” without bordering on eccentric. But once they caught a glimpse of her eyes, they would know differently. Their amber colour stood out against her chestnut-brown skin, and would have drawn in any interested party if not for her resting bitch face. She had a scowl like her father and the warm heart of her mother. A force to be reckoned with, depending on which side of her mood you were on.

Her ears were studded with piercings of various metals, and the hot wind tickled the shaved sides of her head. Much taller than her mother but a head shorter than her father, Nelinha could throw around her stocky weight pretty easily when it came to a fight.

She grumbled as she felt more sand creep into her boots and sting her cheeks. This was supposed to have gone smoothly; instead, this goliath had to give her the run-around, staying just one step ahead of her at every turn. From planet to planet, he’d given her the slip, leaving behind false leads that would take her in one direction while he headed in another. What he had in brains, he lacked in finesse; once she managed to find his trail again, it was an easy one to follow with the destruction and distraught people he left in his wake.

If she wasn’t so annoyed with him, she might hire him on the spot as a runner.

Once she got close enough to make out the tattoo and scars on his arm, she circled towards the back of the building. It would be stupid to get caught after such a long walk.

The building itself was nothing more than random bits of wood and metal nailed down and tied together. Flurmp sat on what could be considered a front porch, with the wing of an old plane hanging over it to serve as shelter. He sat in a chair just to the right of a doorway where several pots and pans hung. If she had to guess, they may have served as some kind of crude alarm system for whoever used to live there. From the current state of them, someone had been using them as target practice.

The rest of the walls were pockmarked with termite burrows, bullet holes, and cigarette burns in an arrangement that wasn’t too different from the pimple-scarred face of a teenager.

Dozens of tyres of various sizes leaned against another wall, many of them missing their rims. As she got closer, a distinct smell rose from the building, one of garbage and desiccated meat. Save for herself and her target, no one had been out here in a very long time.

The back of the building was no better. The wall was barely holding together, with assortments of frayed luggage cords and ropes tied together to keep the whole thing upright. The makeshift window was something of a life, since any attempt to crawl through it would bring the whole wall down. Nelinha settled for the sizable hole in the corner where the two walls didn’t meet together properly, and squeezed her way through.

Once inside, she saw the real state of things. As rundown at the outside looked, inside was much worse. Several rotten and stained mattresses were stacked together in one corner, while several smaller ones were strewn about. What bare floor there could have been was covered in empty food wrappers, rotten food, and the defecations of several creatures of different sizes and species.

Nelinha decided the mattresses were a safer bet, since they’d muffle her footsteps. She could see the large girth of Flurmp’s belly from where she stood, still rising and falling as he slept. One step onto the nearest bed, however, proved her assumption wrong. The air was filled with a wet squelching noise and an off-coloured liquid pooled up around her boot. The smell of it almost rattled her teeth loose, but it was this or picking her way through the piles of garbage and feces, which she definitely didn’t have the time for.

After navigating the minefield of mysterious wet mattresses, she stepped down into a clear spot of the floor. Just a few more feet and-...

A squeak in the rotten wood paused her step. Nelinhan flinched and held her breath, her gaze shifting to the doorway. Still, there was no movement, no hint in the Goliath’s breath to indicate he’d heard a thing. She chanced another step closer, close enough to poke her head out of the door. She found him still sitting in that chair, asleep. Perfect.

As the goliath snored softly, Nelinha slowly slipped her hand into the nearest pocket of his pants. It was deeper, deeper than any pocket should really be. It was growing more moist too, the more of her arm disappeared, to the point that she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out what he was keeping in here.

Something hard and warm met her finger and she almost screamed with disgust. With a hand clamped over her mouth, she probed blindly at the object to discover it was just a set of keys. Further inspection revealed damp balls of paper, which left the scent of bubblegum stain on her fingers when she finally pulled her hand free.

A bust. One pocket down, three more to go.

The second pocket revealed a dozen or so strips of paper. A quick peek revealed names and numbers scribbled down in hasty handwriting. The numbers - a series of three followed by a dot, one number, and then another dot - were easy to decipher as Echo frequencies, likely his contacts for whatever kind of business he was running. Nelinha slipped a few into her pocket, in case these contacts could pan out for her in the future.

She pushed through to the next pocket in her mental itinerary when his large hand snapped up to grab her by the wrist.

“Pretty lady think she smarter than me,” he growled from beneath his rusty, nail-covered helmet. “But me got her instead.”

_ Oh fuck. _

Before she could react, his large fist filled the empty spot beneath her ribs and forced her lungs empty. The shield she wore was cheap and cracked apart in splinters of blue light before completely shattering. The shield she wore on her hip was cheap but reliable. Hexagons of blue light wrapped around her when contact was made in an effort to keep her safe. The Goliath’s fist proved to be too much, and the protective digital blanket shattered completely. The crude blue and white device flashed its red light and blared its warning at her to get away from the danger. An impossible task, given that the Goliath still had a grip on her. It had managed to lessen some of the blow, but not enough to eliminate the worry of a broken rib.

Before she could summon any of her strength to fight back, she felt the twist of her arm in its socket as the Goliath whipped her over his shoulder then threw her off the porch like a disgusting ragdoll. Nelinha knew this was going to hurt, knew that her body was still fighting off the pain of his punch to do anything to roll with it. Instead, she tried to go as limp as possible so reduce the bruises.

She skipped across the sand like a stone, each landing knocking more and more wind out of her lungs before she could get another breath in. It was torturous just trying to stay awake, knowing that if she didn’t do anything, if she gave in to the pain, she was dead.

When she finally came to a stop in the deep trench her body had dug, she could already feel the ground vibrating beneath her. The sand quaked at the Goliath’s approaching footsteps and his furious yell was growing louder.

Get up or die. Fight with every breath until there wasn’t one left.

The problem was getting one in the first place. If she didn’t get up soon, he was going to introduce her eyeballs to the pit of her stomach.

Nelinha opened her eyes just in time to see the bottom of Flumrp’s massive boot bearing down on her head. She tightened her core and rolled to her left, tucking herself into a tight ball to keep all her parts safe. Sand spilled across her neck and back when his boot met ground instead of her face. She continued with the momentum and used those few seconds to come up with a makeshift plan of some kind.

First, breathing. Second, ignore the pain. Third, get a gun out. There was no way she was going to be able to take him in a one-on-one without a weapon.

Nelinha finally rolled onto her hands and knees and pushed herself up. Her shield had already wrapped its protective skin around her once more. It hurt to stand, hurt even worse to take a deep breath, but it took nothing to pull a digistructed assault rifle out of her storage unit. The Rapier, her favourite gun, mostly because of the large bayonet attached to the front of it. That made it the perfect choice for close or ranged combat, depending on the situation she found herself in.

“Says the fly to the spider, can I walk upon your web? To which the spider says, why would you wreck my home like this?!” Flumrp Dampst rubbed his mighty hands together, not sounding the least bit intimidated by the display of her gun.

“Poetry reading’s next week, I hear,” she quipped, not having a clue what he was talking about. Nel braced the rifle against her shoulder and pulled the trigger. Gunfire burst from the barrel’s end and found roost in the Goliath’s body. Each bullet made a sickening sound, like a finger being shoved into a huge fat of jello. But even after emptying half a clip, he was still coming. The kickback wasn’t helping either, rattling her already-aching insides. 

The goliath yelled as he picked up speed and ran right at her, swinging his large arms to swipe the gun from her hands. His yell turned into a scream as the bayonet caught his fingers, drawing blade with its hungry, serrated teeth. Her jerked reaction to keep out of reach, however, sent her shots higher than she wanted.

The ping of metal stopped her heart in her chest. She watched the helmet sail through the air in slow motion, saw the spray of blood from the open gaping neck hole as the horrors unfolded itself. A tendril of muscles and sinew unraveled itself and stood on end, like the suctioned tendril of a thresher. Atop it sat a skull with bulging staring eyes, bloodshot and unblinking.

Things had just gone to hell.

The goliath leaned back and roared into the sky like a hungry wolf, all common sense and survival instinct gone out the window. The bloodied skull bobbed and weaved as he ran straight at her, too difficult a target to hit to end this quickly.

Then her clip ran out.

Reloading would take too long with the speed at which he was bearing down on her. Nelinha slipped a sticky MIRV grenade from her supply and chucked it right at the approaching, jiggling belly. Stuck fast, its tiny red light began blinking. She silently counted to seven as she turned and ran as fast as she could move her legs.

The shockwave of the initial explosion sent her spilling into the sand once more. Each one after was a crackling pop pop!, one child grenade after the other tearing the Goliath apart. Her ears were ringing by the time the last one went off, and even then there was still a lingering groan from her pursuer.

Her shots had done nothing so far. Rolling over onto her back, she saw that he was on the ground, blood leaking from the tiny wounds her bullets had made. The grenades must have knocked even more sense out of him, leaving him vulnerable.

She couldn’t wait for him to get up and start again. She pushed herself off the ground, rifle in hand, and sprinted towards him. That terrifying skull swiveled in its confusion, staring up at her in question. Wasn’t this the wrong way around.

With all the strength she could muster, she brought the bayonet down on the rope of muscle keeping the skull attached to the rest of the body. Blood sprayed across her front, the long rope-like bundle of nerves and meat and arteries thrashing back and forth like a fireman’s hose out of control. The skull’s teeth continued to gnash as it rolled across the sand, the twitching eyes searching her face until they stopped moving. His feral growl of bewilderment faded into a dying whimper, the spindly neck muscles issuing its last spasms before it, too, halted.

Nelinha gasped for air, a hand smearing the blood from her face and shirt. Ichor continued to flow from the open wound, staining the sand around the dead body. Muffled swears fell from her lips as her body tried to rein in the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She felt warm and cold at the same time, the shock of the situation forcing her to come to terms with what she’d just done. She’d never beheaded someone before; she preferred working from a distance, clean and separated from all the gore and smell of blood. It was what kept her sane, unlike now. It felt like everything was running away from her.

She gave in to gravity’s pull on her legs and plopped into the sand on her rear. Deep breaths, she reminded herself. Deep breaths or her stomach was going to empty itself onto the sand. A final shudder of cold ran down her spine before she felt right again, a comforting numbness settling over her.

As she pressed her forehead to her knees to rid the last of her shivers, she heard a familiar, guttural chirp. The sound should have made her feel better, but it only added to her annoyance.

There sat Diablo, perched on the dead Goliath’s shoulder. The leathery bird-like creature twisted her head one way and then the next, peering down at the dead body. Red eyes blinked and she snapped her long grey beak closed. The face was a mottled light-grey colour while a feathery crest of darker grey ran down the length of her neck. The feathers grew more and more sparse towards the wings, exposing more of the dark-grey leathery skin beneath. The membranes of her wings were bright red with a smattering of black freckled patterns across them. The grey feathers of her body faded to shades of red and orange, the mighty plumage fanning out behind her as she tried to maintain her balance.

She hopped closer, not caring that she was getting blood all over her talon-tipped feet. Without hesitation, her beak pecked at the sinews still jutting out of the neck hole, tugging and pulling until she finally managed to free some meat.

“Di! Where the hell have you been?” Nelinha was tempted to pull off her boot and throw it at her traveling companion but thought better of it. It wouldn’t make her feel any better. “You could’ve been a great help a few minutes ago!”

Diablo looked up and blinked quizzically, strands of meat hanging from her beak. The dark crest, once smooth against her neck, fluffed up in a display that served no purpose.

“Don’t know who you’re trying to fool, he’s dead.” Nelinha gestured down at the body to make her point. Diablo replied with more posturing and an angry scream.

“Oh my god, you’re so stupid...” Nelinha scooped up a handful of sand threw it futilely at Diablo.

The creature screeched and shook what sand clung to her feathers and beak. So much for trying to be helpful! Not wanting any more of this treatment, Diablo gave up on her meal for the moment and flew to the overhang of the abandoned building’s porch.

“Should’ve smashed your egg on the ground when I had the chance,” Nelinha muttered to herself as she searched the Goliath’s back pockets. There was nothing there either. There was no way she could go back to the ship empty-handed. A quick search of the abandoned building revealed nothing, no hiding places where the goliath could have stashed it, and there was no way she was going to search through the garbage and piles of shit.

Either this idiot had sold it already… or it was still on his ship. The problem was finding it, considering it could be anywhere on this planet. The area was littered with rocky outcroppings, towering spires, and deep canyons wide enough to hide a ship or a shuttle. Searching every inch of the area would take an entire month and she didn’t have that kind of time.

She could call her parents, see if they could send some of the people aboard to help. In a sense, that would be admitting defeat. This was her mission and she was determined to see it through to the end. She just needed to find the proverbial string to lead her to her prize.

_ His Echo! _

She shifted her search and found his Echo device clipped to the belt loop of his pants. It was beaten up to hell with a cracked screen but it still turned on.

>>Enter passcode.

Shit. There were very few people she knew that actually locked their Echo devices, so it was annoying that this Goliath turned out to be one of them. Thankfully, it was easy enough to tell which numbers he used since four of the buttons were completely white. It was just a matter of figuring out their order and crossing her fingers there wasn’t a lockout system in play.

Nelinha managed to get it right on the third try, and the screen flickered to life with a list of options. Voicemails, e-mails, itineraries... She moved to itineraries and hit Enter.

A list popped up with assorted names, dates, meeting places and times. A few of them even had coordinates. The fourth one on the list piqued her interest since it listed the current planet she was on and a person named Coleman. The scheduled date and time were today at 9 pm, and the location, after checking with her own Echo, was at this location. Her best guess was that he’d found someone else to pawn the object off to and was eager to get the hell out of dodge before she, or someone else, arrived. The Goliath had underestimated her talents and look where that had gotten him.

She had a good three hours before this Coleman was supposed to show up, and that meant she needed to find that shuttle fast. Nelinha continued to scroll through his Echo, hoping he left the coordinates somewhere buried deep within the files but found nothing.

A yell and the fluttering of leathery wings pulled her away. Diablo hopped from her perch to the ground, gave another yell, then hopped forward a few feet before repeating the behaviour.

Nelinha had seen it before: it was what her father had shown her when they were first training Diablo to tail injured prey. Diablo’s parent, Talon, had been instrumental in demonstrating the lessons properly. Diablo, on the other hand, hadn’t been at all interested in getting it right. Her interests resided in pecking at hair, pulling at threads on clothes, and sand baths.

Nelinha rolled her eyes, keeping her expectations reasonable that this was just another of her attitude problems, when she found a trail of large footprints towards the building.

“Well, punch me in the gut and call me Mary.” She clicked her tongue against her teeth and held out her arm. “Good girl. I take back all those shitty things I said about you.”

Diablo glared up at her before dropping a blob of white onto the sand.

“Fair enough.”

The blood on her pants and shirt was already growing cool as she followed the trail towards the rocky spires and towers, leaving them tacky and stiff against her skin. She picked up the pace, jogging quickly through the sand with Diablo overhead. Her best estimate said she was at least thirty minutes away from the gathering of rocky towers. The state of her injuries, however, told her it was going to take much longer. Her stubbornness told her to push on since the sun was already setting past the horizon, but her body demanded that she stop.

Breathing was becoming more painful. Afraid she had a punctured lung, Nelinha stopped to take a quick break and lifted her shirt to examine the skin underneath. Splotches of dark purple and blue marbled her stomach and ribs. A careful probing of the skin and what was underneath revealed that nothing was broken or out of place. A miracle, in her eyes. Without the adrenaline coursing through her, a hint of nausea had started to settle in, what with her organs being mashed around by an enormous fist. She took a swig of water to keep the sting of bile at bay and pushed onward at a much slower pace.

Different layers of coloured rock told the tales of this planet, its history in the centuries of being carved out by the elements. Nelinha never had much interest in rocks or archaeology, but even she could admit that the view was impressive.

It was almost another hour before she was surrounded on all sides by the towering rock walls. They were almost as tall as the skyscrapers on Promethea. The channeled wind through the narrow tunnels had wiped away most of the Goliath’s trail, but there was no need to follow them any longer. Tucked carefully in the narrow space was the shuttle, the bay door left open. He’s probably come to believe that he was scot-free, that there was no way she would have found him or his shuttle on this planet, and thrown caution to the wind. Cocky bastard. At least she would have to wrestle with another keycode to get in.

Diablo remained outside, perched on one of the natural rock structures while she stepped inside. As far as Nelinha’s traveling companion was concerned, her job was done. The only thing left for her to do was wait until they were ready to leave so that she could be fed.

Inside the shuttle smelled musty. The floor was littered with food wrappers of every kind and there were a few choice guns mounted on one wall. Still, none of them were what she was looking for. Her prize was wood and metal, a Jakobs rifle that had been given to one Sir Alistair Hammerlock as a gift from his husband. She hadn’t queried too deeply into how he’d lost it in the first place or how it ended up in the hands of one Flurmp Dampst. At the time, she’d just wanted to get away from the Raiders to stretch her legs and find some excitement. An oversight on her part or she would have prepared a little better.

Something in the floor didn’t sound too right. She stepped back and stomped her boot on a floor panel again. It sounded more hollow than the others. She wracked her brain, mentally pulling apart the inner workings of a shuttle’s engines and circuitry. The machinery for the thrusters, fuel control, and landing mechanisms likely lay under where she stood, so there was no reason for this spot to sound particularly hollow.

Of course, that was using her standard knowledge of shuttle mechanics, and not every model fit the standard. Joy-riding idiots were known for gutting the inner workings to make them lighter and faster, as well as customizing the look and feel of the engines themselves. Butchering, she called it. Making your thrusters sound like dying tubas by adding specialty mufflers was just an exercise in idiocy.

Nelinha dug her fingers around the seams, trying to find purchase, but the edges were too smooth. The holes in the grating were too small for her fingers too. She was going to have to find something else to pry it up with. She pulled out her Rapier again and worked the bayonet between the metal plates. It was awkward, given the size of the gun and not having the proper leverage, but after leaning back and giving it a few twists and turns, the panel soon popped out in one of the corners. The blade was covered in scratches and lost some of its edge, something her father wouldn’t be too happy with. Respect the weapon and it’ll take care of ya, he once told her. A bunch of hooey, if she wanted to be honest.

She slipped her nimble fingers beneath the corner and gave it a sharp tug. A pop of the seams told her it was held fast. She was going to need more leverage. Boots planted against the opposite wall, she leaned back as far as she could, her muscles straining against the resistance. The struggle was adding tension to her core too, reigniting the pain underneath.

“Get out... you stupid...!”

Nelinha almost rolled out of the bay door when the flooring panel finally came free. Tossing it behind her, she scrambled to her hands and knees to peer into the new opening. Tucked away was the Jakobs rifle, as old and weathered as its owner. Hammerlock was definitely going to be happy to get this back… probably not so much after she asked for a raise in her price.

Diablo’s alarm and the flapping of her wings cut Nelinha’s celebration short, her head whipping around to examine her small window to the outside. She saw nothing of interest, nothing that would cause the bird to scream out like that. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the gun and looked it over in the dim light to make sure nothing had been broken. It was still in one piece and without a scratch. Impressive for being in the position of a mostly careless Goliath.

Then she discovered Diablo’s cause for alarm. The shuttle cambered one way and then the next, each jostle spiking a dropping sensation in her stomach. Loud cracks and groans surrounded the vehicle, the view out the bay door becoming more dirt than sky. Each jerk of the shuttle sent it deeper and deeper, threatening to surrender itself into chasm below. Nelinha snatched up the rifle, digistructed it into her SDU, and clambered towards the small sliver of opening that still bore dark blue sky. Her heart dropped. There was no way she was going to be able to squeeze through there and there was nothing to grab onto to pull herself out. She could still hear Diablo above, sounding absolutely terrified. Panicking, she did what she thought was her best chance at staying alive. She slid into the pilot’s seat and buckled herself in, her fingers digging into the worn fabric as the shuttle shook one last time before it went into free fall.


	2. Caves are Not Your Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha finds herself stuck in a cave, which thwarts her at every turn to rescue herself. The cave is more than it appears to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this chapter feels like it's dragging too much. I wanted to show off Nel's ability to stay calm under pressure and what her other survival talents are.
> 
> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself

Rocks and pebbles crumbled around the broken, beaten shuttle, pinging off the dented metal. It was a surprise that it held together after its long fall, but very little remained of its original shape. The wings and bay door were completely gone and the front was bent in so harshly, it would take a miracle to get the engine inside working again. The shuttle had landed squarely on its side after it tumbled down, down, down into the darkness. It rolled onto the roof at one point before slowly falling onto the next side. At the moment, it was perched askew between a pair of large boulders; the back of it wasn’t touching the ground.

Nelinha’s unconscious body sat limply in the chair, her arms dangling over the dashboard. The guns once mounted on the wall were now scattered along the inside, some of them resting against the splintered front window, while others had managed to become wedged into the space underneath the dashboard.

What felt like an eternity within the deep recesses of her mind was only a few minutes. Light still shone down from the hole above, but was dim by the time it reached the shuttle. It was just bright enough to travel by, if one didn’t mind bumping into the random outcroppings of the cave.

When she came to, everything hurt, the burn of her bruise renewed with the seatbelt pulled tight against her torso. Her vision was a little blurry and it felt like she’d slammed on the brakes of a Runner a little too hard from the way her neck was aching. She checked her nostrils and ears and discovered no blood; wiggled her toes and fingers and found they were all intact. She was still in one piece.

Looking through the front window, there was a mysterious light illuminating everything. Long, spiraling stalactites hung from the ceiling. Further into the cave, however, the formations grew progressively narrower, offering more space for a person to walk around.

Nelinha didn’t know how far down she’d fallen, but she was sure there was no way she would be able to climb back up. She jammed her thumb onto the buckle release and got no response. The thing had locked up from the sudden jerk of the crash, trapping her in the chair. Her Rapier was nowhere to be seen and none of the guns she could reach had blades on them either. More annoyed than panicked, she tugged on the belt over and over again to get it to loosen up.

To no avail. She tried remaining calm and pulled on it slowly, only to be met with the same resistance. The thing was stuck fast and wasn’t showing any signs of letting go soon.

Having no other blade on her person, she looked around for anything sharp she could use to free herself. The dashboard was a smooth ceramic, and the shattered panel of the front window was too far for her to reach. The seat next to her yielded no results either.

Nelinha tugged on the release of the glove compartment and had her hope renewed when it fell open. There wasn’t much in there, save for some papers and a rinky-dink dashboard figurine. It was in the shape of a bandit holding pistols in each hand. Its little head bobbed as she shook it before she smashed it against the edge of the glove compartment door. The ceramic splintered into several pieces, leaving the jagged edges of the body for her to work with. Not the most effective tool for cutting but she had no other choice at this point.

The material of the seatbelt was thick and stubborn, barely yielding to the sharp edge of her improvised blade. But she proved to be just as stubborn, and finally felt the edge fray. Her arm was exhausted by the time she got halfway through the belt.

Stupid. This entire situation was stupid, she told herself as she continued her sawing. She should have known better than to jump into some random shuttle without checking the area first. She should have scouted the area to make sure that it was safe, because if she had, she wouldn’t be in this situation. Her determination to get off Sanctuary III, her eagerness to find Hammerlock’s rifle, and the adrenaline of her victory over the goliath had blinded her to common sense. She was sure her parents had never made rookie mistakes like this. They were heroes, veterans in doing the right thing, helping people out, and making the galaxy a better place. What was she doing but creating more problems for herself and needing to be saved all the time?

Nelinha was about to take another break when the fabric of the belt snapped. Having nothing to hold her in place, she was ejected first onto the dashboard and then onto the front window in a mess of tangled limbs. She landed with a harsh thud, her shoulder taking most of the blow. Her braids splayed out around her face like a crude halo as she questioned just how much worse this could get. Then Fate answered.

The thick material began to crack around her too, the splintered pieces starting to spiderweb even further. If she took her time, she thought, if she didn’t put too much pressure on it, maybe she could slide back onto the dashboard before-

A scream unwillingly emitted from her own lungs broke the silence as she freefell once more. This drop was thankfully shorter than her previous one - just a few feet or so - but that didn’t make the landing any less painful. She wondered how many more times she was going to experience the burst of fiery pain across her stomach with each new misfortune that befell her. At this rate, it was never going to heal.

Nelinha remained still for a few more minutes, both to regain her breath and let the pain subside, and to see whether Fate had another obstacle to throw into her path. When nothing happened, she finally chanced a better look around as she carefully got to her feet.

It was cool down here, and the air smelled earthy, like moss and minerals. The ceiling of the cave was pretty high, a good thirty feet or so. Water dripped from the stalactites and created small pools beneath each one, the further ones growing in size and number until they melted together into a large pond. In the dim lighting, it looked pretty deep.

The lighting was something else, too. There were no sconces along the walls or lights strung up anywhere, but there was still a dim light permeating the cavern, seeming to come from the very rock itself.

Nelinha neared one such source of light, tiny motes of bluish-purple that faded in and out. Like breathing. She brushed her fingers against them and got no reaction. She scratched a nail across the rock next to see if she could extract  _ whatever it was _ from the surface. But even with the grit under her fingernail, the mysterious source continued to glow. Weird, but she wasn’t going to dedicate much thought to it. For the time being, she really needed to get out of here.

She wandered back to the ship and leaned against the large boulder it was propped on. If she could get a signal out, then maybe someone could stop by to pick her up. It would involve her swallowing her pride in this one, but it was better than staying in here and starving to death.

The device squeaked and squawked when it flared to life. She smacked the side of her Echo and turned the knobs. The battery was working fine; the problem was her surroundings. Nelinha could just make out a few voices, likely ads over the Echonet, but none of them sounded clear. When she tried to tune in to one of the frequencies she knew by heart, the word “No Signal” flashed on the screen over and over again no matter which way she turned or how high she held the device over her head. The walls were just too thick and too high for a good signal to get out.

Okay, so that was out of the question. She looked up and squinted past the narrowing formations in search of the sky. Way up, there was a small irregular patch of bluish-black and she thought she could see a few stars twinkling in the sky. Maybe if she yelled loud enough, someone passing by would hear her.

Yeah, fat chance, given the remoteness of this planet. But it was still worth a try; someone from the ship would realize she was missing and come looking for her at some point.

“Di! Di, you up there?” She cupped her hands around her mouth and bellowed. Her voice reverberated off the walls but she couldn’t be sure if it traveled up enough for the creature to hear. There was no silhouette of her companion overhead either, nor did she hear Diablo’s screech in response. Not that it mattered; Diablo wouldn’t be able to get help anyway. But at least she would have some company if Diablo flew down. Another pair of eyes, distracted as they usually were, was better than just one.

With two attempts at communication resulting in failure, it didn’t hurt to try for a third. The Echo device had a long range but a weak signal in these surroundings; it was possible that the radio of the shuttle was still working.

She tested her weight on the shuttle first to see if it was really stuck fast. Convinced that it wasn’t going to fall any further, she slowly and carefully clambered back inside, crawling heel over hand through the front opening. It was a struggle to squeeze herself past the dashboard, but once she got a grip on the arms of the pilot’s seat, it was easy enough to pull herself the rest of the way in. She tried dials and levers, pressed the ignition switch; nothing flared to life, not even the emergency power. The engine was likely smashed to hell. Inner circuitry, however, didn’t rely on the engine being alive. She just needed the proper wiring so that she could strengthen the signal.

Bracing back against the seat, she kicked at the paneling under the dashboard until it finally came loose. Wires spilled out, all intact and clipped together in bundles. It didn’t take long for her to sort through them until she found the one she wanted. A quick yank freed one end from its housing, exposed copper wire fraying every which way as a result. With no tools on hand, Nelinha undid her belt and used the corner of the buckle’s frame to undo the screws keeping her Echo together. She placed the plastic backing between her knees and the screws in her pocket for safekeeping while she worked on getting the wires undone.

The little broken ceramic bandit came into play once more, offering its sharp edge so that she could remove the insulation. Bits of plastic tubing fell in every direction as she got to stripping the wires, until there was enough exposed material to cobble together. Sparks flew when she turned the Echo back over again and flipped it on. The once-muffled voices were much clearer, the static gone. She tried one of the frequencies again.

“If anyone is out there listening to this, this is Nelinha Ijeoma. I’m on the planet Eirene, requesting rescue. I’m located at coordinates 37.19837, 10.01759 where you should find a hole in the ground. Minor injuries but no food supply. Please hurry.”

Nelinha left the feed open, waiting for a reply. When she heard none, she repeated her message once more. She was pretty sure it was getting out there so there was no reason for someone not to reply. But she knew she couldn’t wait here forever. This was just a backup plan if she couldn’t find another way out of here.

She decided to leave the Echo on in the shuttle so that if anyone did happen to come across her message, they could track her signal. Until then, she was going to go it on foot. She gathered up the Jakobs rifle and a few of the scattered pistols for defence purposes. Climbing further back through the ship yielded a half-filled medkit and a few crushed candy bars the goliath hadn’t eaten yet. At least the sugar would keep her energy and mood up during her search. Back down she scurried into the cave, everything tucked tight against her person save for the medkit in her hands.

The opposite direction of the glittering lights was only darkness, and she had no flashlight to speak of to chance going in that direction. Ahead was the scene she was familiar with, the path ahead of her still a mystery.

Nelinha redid her belt and headed forward.

The pools of water were shallow enough, barely coming up past the toes of her boots. The cool water of the stalactites dripped onto her heated skin, washing some of the stuck sand away. It offered some kind of relief, and she chanced a taste of the few drops on her skin. It tasted a little mineral-y but seemed otherwise pure. She undid the cap of her canteen and scooped some up from the larger puddles, aware that it might not be the purest source. Fighting off dehydration, however, was a better option. She didn’t see any algae in the water anyway, something her father had taught her when they’d been away from home for an extended period of time.

A survivalist, he was. He would be away from home for days at a time, her mother had told her, before she was born. Surviving where and when he could, living off… whatever it was he found to keep going at whatever job had been assigned to him. Her mother would joke that that was why he was so thin, almost skeletal in the baggy clothes he wore around the house.

But as Nelinha had grown older, she got the feeling that that was just a story. And it worried her that there was something else in play when it came to her dad’s health. Something he obviously didn’t want to talk about.

She finally stopped in front of the large pond that now looked like an enormous lake. How deep it was, she couldn’t tell. She couldn’t see past the reflections of the ceiling to see how deep it was, and that left her with no choice but to step in. Just a trick of the light, she told herself. If she just kept walking, she would be fine. The ground had felt pretty even her during her walk, but a body of water that size… She could risk swimming through it and tiring herself out further, on the off chance that there could be an opening further in. Or she could find nothing and expose herself to the perils of hypothermia, which would diminish her food supply and further her chances of starvation.

Nelinha couldn’t be sure if it was just her nerves being frayed after such an exhausting day or if something else was in play, but she felt unsettling vibrations in the air. Like the spark of ozone right after lightning struck. She rubbed at her arms to get rid of the sensation, eager to get out of there as soon as possible.

She gazed up at the ceiling to find a cluster of dripping structures right above. It must have taken centuries for them to form, not to mention centuries of wearing away the ground beneath.

“Sorry, Hammerlock. But your rifle’s not worth my life.” She digistructed the wood-and-metal into her hands and stuck the butt of it into the water. It sank an inch or two before stopping.

Nelinha continued this way for a while, finding that the entire thing was shallow, until the rifle sunk past the butt, then the sights, almost up to the trigger. There was maybe a foot left of the rifle before it eventually stopped. The sharp dropoff would have taken her by surprise but it wouldn’t have hurt her in any way. What she worried about was whether there were more, deeper plunges in the cave floor further in.

Of all the days to wear socks…

The water was just underneath her ribs by the time she found sturdy footing under the water. The chill pricked at her skin but the cooling sensation felt nice against her bruised ribs. She reminded herself not to be too grateful for it, not wanting to miss the first signs of her health being in jeopardy.

The ground was starting to slope down at this point, not steep enough for her to slip, but enough that the creep of the water up towards her chin was noticeable. The pond went all the way up to the cave wall, too, but she could just make out a small crack of an opening just above the water. When she peered through, she could make out more purplish lights some distance away. So it did lead to somewhere; the question was whether it was to an exit or just another cavern within the cave complex.

If it was a dead-end, she could just come back, right? She could come back, huddle by the Echo waiting for an answer, and hopefully find something to wrap herself in to keep warm after taking off her clothes to dry. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

One problem was that beneath the water, she couldn’t see any of the glowing lights to illuminate the way. She couldn’t tell how treacherous the terrain was or if there was a bottom; would she be walking along or swimming? She would be fumbling around in the dark, blind to whatever was around her.

Sliding down far enough into the water, she could keep her nose and mouth above the surface and still squeeze under the jagged surface of the path leading to the next room. Needing both hands, she returned the wet rifle to her SDU and started her journey.

Though she never had experienced claustrophobia before, she definitely understood at that moment what made people so terrified. The space was barely big enough to fit her head, and she didn’t dare to look down into the dark abyss of the water she trudged through. She couldn’t see her legs or even the patterns of the shirt she wore. She shoved the thought out of her mind before it got to her and planted more unsettling thoughts to heighten her panic.

Hand over hand along the broken edges of the pathway, she guided herself inch by inch, her neck aching with the angle she held her head at. She could worry about any pain later; she just needed to get to the other side.

As soon as Nelinha was through to the other side, she scrambled quickly towards whatever shore she could find. She scraped her hands and knees against jagged rocks beneath the water’s surface and finally pulled herself onto drier ground. She was glad to get over with it, glad that she wouldn’t have to go through something like that again anytime soon.

A puddle grew around her as she caught her breath… and slowly, she realized that the air smelled drier and warmer on this side. Peering down the tunnel, she couldn’t see an end in sight, but the motes of light continued further in. As far as she knew, she could walk forever through this cave before she found any kind of end or beginning, and that wasn’t a settling thought. At least with the slightly arid air, her clothes would dry a little more quickly. She wrung the water out of her hair and took a nibble from one of the candy bars to keep her energy up.

That electric buzz was still in the air too, much stronger this time. Nelinha rubbed at her arms to keep it away, but the tingling sensation remained. It bathed her skin now, coated it like a thin blanket and held her tight. Despite the air being pleasant to breathe, she suddenly found it difficult, like something was pressing down on her chest. Panic settled in when she thought the edges of her vision were growing dark, afraid that she was slowly passing out. Had she hit a pocket of carbon monoxide, or maybe some even more noxious gas?

_ Just a trick of the light, Nel. It’s just dark in here, you’re not fainting. _

She planted herself on the ground and took another bite of the candy bar. The sugar spike had to keep this feeling at bay, she told herself. But the longer she sat in one place, the harder she screwed her eyebrows together and tried to force the sensation away, the stronger its grip grew on her.

What could she do against an invisible opponent? How could she battle her own mind when all she had were guns? Her wits were being taken from her and she could do nothing to fight it.

Before slipping under, her final thoughts drifted towards her parents and sisters. She worried they would never see each other again, that she was doomed to remain undiscovered in this cave. Would they have some kind of memorial service for her? Would they keep searching or give up eventually? Someone just had to find that Echo…


	3. The Usefulness of a Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha has an encounter with a Guardian, and the meeting doesn't go as either of them expects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Guardians belong to GBX

Stars were the first thing Nelinha saw when she “woke up.” Not the spinning spots of colours in your eyes when you rubbed them too hard, but actual stars, like the ones you’d see in the night sky. But they were much closer than that. In fact, they were floating right in front of her face, close enough for her to touch. She did so and felt a gentle buzz pass right through her fingers, like that pin-prick sensation when a numb limb started to regain feeling.

Other than the stars, she was surrounded by complete darkness. There wasn’t anything similar to ground to stand on either. When she stomped her foot, it was met with a dull, soft sensation, but nothing truly solid underneath.

The warm, dry smell to the air was gone too. Instead, it left a bitter taste on her tongue and tickled her nostrils. Nelinha sniffed harshly to stifle a sneeze and wondered if the air was toxic. She felt no burning sensation in her lungs and no dizziness.

In fact, she wasn’t sure if she felt anything at all. She could see her own limbs as she held them up in front of her face, but it felt like being underwater when she tried to rub them together. It was a little disconcerting.

“I’m having a stroke, aren’t I?” She smacked her palms against her cheeks and rubbed furiously, still feeling nothing. “I need to snap out of it.” It was a silly thing to suggest, knowing that that wasn’t how strokes worked. But without a good grip on the situation, it was the best guess she could make of her situation.

In the midst of her small panic attack, the stars began to change and move, shifting in their patterns until they took on a shape. One that she was familiar with.

Her parents had told her stories about Guardians, obscure biomechanical beings that protected the Vaults, left behind by the Eridians to keep trespassers away. Her father had mentioned one called The Watcher, how she’d interfered in Raider business, stuck around to utter some mystical, cryptic crap, and then left. Neither of them had revered their encounters with the creatures, describing them more as nuisances than anything else. So it was only natural that she didn’t think too highly of them either.

Though she would admit that she was somewhat in awe of its appearance when the stars coalesced and solidified into a form separate from the sparks of light. A blank face with staring black eyes sat on the end of a long, thin neck, ascending into the air until it towered over her. The body that formed beneath it wasn’t human in any respect, with appendages and textures and other assorted “parts” sticking out every which way. What could be called arms ended in needle-like fingers that bent and folded and gestured in meanings that were unknown to her. The legs were the same - smooth and white - but didn’t end in any feet whatsoever. The creature seemed to hover by some unknown force, and small wisps of off-coloured smoke rose from the bioorganic “chimneys” along its back.

“You’re not dead.”

The voice seemed to come from within her instead of from the Guardian itself.

“What?”

“Isn’t that the first thing you humans ask when you find yourself in situations like this? They find themselves in this space…” It gestured to the desolate area around them. The stars in the middle had returned at some point, probably when she’d been distracted by the creature’s coalescence.

“And the first thing they ask someone like me is whether they’re dead or not.” It folded its long hands in front of itself and tilted its head down until it was at Nelinha’s eye-level.

“Actually, once I realized this wasn’t a stroke or… whatever, I was going to ask why you brought me here.”

The Guardian seemed to think for a long time, staring back at Nelinha. She couldn’t tell if it was confused by her unorthodox question or if it was really trying to come up with an answer that was clear enough for her to understand. Her best guess was that the Guardian had never been asked so directly before. Anyone else, Nelinha guessed, would marvel at the situation they found themselves in and be rendered speechless. But she was the daughter of a Siren and a man who’d seen a lot of shit. Nothing could really surprise her anymore at this point.

“Actually, I should probably ask  _ where _ I am before the why.” At least if she remembered any of this when she woke up, she would have learned about the existence of other planes, if that was how all of this worked.

“Mm. The simple answer is we’re inside your consciousness. You remember being in a cave, correct?”

“... I passed out. You’re… inside my head?”

Scratch that, there were still a few things left that could surprise her.

“In a manner of speaking. As to the why-...”

“You need me to do something for you,” she interrupted. She’d seen enough Echo dramas to know how these kinds of things went. Long monologues about the cosmic energies of the universe, the responsibilities of keeping the cosmic wheels turning… here was no need to drag this out.

“Uh… yes. You’re… definitely not like the humans we’ve heard so much about.” The Guardian ran its long fingers across its porcelain face. If it had any way of emoting, Nelinha was sure it would look very confused.

“Because I know what you are?” She waved a dismissive hand and turned her attention back to the floating stars. “I used to think you were just stories when my parents talked about you. The fact that they  _ kept _ talking about you even after I turned twelve made me realize you weren’t just some myth.”

“I see.”

“So what is it you need me to take care of?” She gave the stars another poke. Nope, they still buzzed against her skin the same as before. She wanted to ask what they were but she was more interested in getting out of here.

“The power of the Vaults. You’re aware of them.”

“Uh huh. Someone’s seeking to control them?”

“Someone’s-...”

Something of a strange sigh vibrated through the Guardian. It wasn’t Nelinha’s fault she was aware of the formula of these things.

“You’re half-right. They’re seeking to control them by destroying them altogether.”

“Like… with dynamite?” The suggestion sounded a lot smarter in her head. “Aren’t these Vaults pretty much indestructible?”

“But not invincible.” It was then that the Guardian swiveled its head around to the collection of stars. Its thin fingers dragged themselves through the mix and the stars danced in their wake, swirling together. The gestures increased in speed, and so too did the display until they were a blur of white. In the middle of the swirling stars was a black sphere that steadily grew in size until it, too, began to emit a soft light.

“Eridium is used to open them, with the use of a Key. Doing so releases a tremendous amount of energy. Feed it too much…”

The swirling sphere grew brighter still until it was almost blinding. It continued to grow in size until the stars were swallowed up and then, in a small burst of light, everything was gone. Nelinha stared at the now-empty space in bewilderment.

“So… space-dynamite.”

She couldn’t be sure but it felt like the Guardian was rolling its eyes at her.

“But that doesn’t make sense. You guys were made to protect the Vaults from people like us. Isn’t this something that you’d want?” The Guardians themselves were the ones who stood in the way of those trying to get to the Vault. By getting rid of them altogether, they could live out the rest of their lives peacefully instead of standing guard for centuries or millennia.

“Humans get dogs to protect their homes from burglars. Or use banks to protect their money. Do you keep either of them safe by blowing up where they’re stored?”

Put that way, Nelinha understood now how silly her suggestion sounded.

“... you have a point. What exactly were the Vaults made for anyway, other than storing those monsters?”

“Those  _ monsters _ , as you call them, are rife with power. Transformed sources of energy that need to be kept from destroying everything in the universe. Eliminating the Vaults, even if they killed these “monsters” in the process, would release all of that energy back into the cosmos and start the cycle all over again.”

“Cycle…” What started off simple was becoming more and more confusing by the second. He’d wanted to avoid this metaphysical talk, hence her interruptions, but it seemed she couldn’t avoid it.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened, you know. Death, rebirth… it all happens in a cycle.”

“So you’re saying I’ve done this before.” Nelinha didn’t like to think about Fate and not having a real choice in events that happened in her life. That amounted to not having any real faculty, that everything was already decided and that no matter what choice you  _ did  _ make, you were destined to do so from the very beginning.

“You. Or someone else. Either way, it needs to be accomplished during your lifetime or things may end sooner than you imagine.”

That could be tomorrow. Or ten years from now, or a hundred. That was the thing about living, you never knew  _ when _ you were going to die, so the threat of the galaxy ending before she was ready didn’t really scare her. That was the kind of life she lived every day; every mission could end up being her last, if she wasn’t careful. So it wasn’t fear that stilled her mind from blurting out “yes,” but the fact that she would be making a decision for those she cared about. They’d lived full lives, faced dangers she could only dream about. But if her decision impacted their lives, then she would do everything in her power to ensure their safety.

“Okay.” She paused for a second in thought. “… okay. So how do I go about stopping  _ whoever  _ is trying to cause this mess?” She partly wished that the stars would come back so that she could have something to focus on other than the Guardian’s unsettling “face.”

“With this.” It unfurled its hand and a small crystal pyramid appeared, floating above its palm. “You’ll need to gather this one and the others, and take his mind from him.”

Nelinha reached across the void between them and plucked it out of the air, but not before the Guardian’s grip found her wrist.

“Beware. This is a responsibility only you can carry-”

Nelinha grabbed the Guardian’s hand and wrenched it away from her.

“Let’s be honest, you’ve only got me cuz I’m trapped down here. Nothing else. This isn’t Fate or some magical invisible hand shoving us together so I can learn some wider lesson on responsibility and how much bigger my existence truly is.”

The porcelain face stilled, its long spindly fingers curling slowly into a fist. She’d obviously gotten on its bad side, ruined whatever moment it was trying to create.

“Just get this fairytale over with so I can go home.” Unfortunately for the Guardian, she didn’t care.

“As you wish.”

Never in a millennium had the Guardian ever been spoken to in such a manner. It was used to humans being in awe of its visage, bowing or curtsying or paying respect in some manner. This one was different; she was oblivious to what she was being given or just didn’t care. Still, it was this or waiting for someone else and time was of the essence.

Once Nelinha’s hand curled around the object, she noticed that it felt warm. Solid. The crystal began to pulse with a soft light at her touch. It was no taller than her thumb, so small she could fit it into her pocket if she ever needed it.

“Now what was this about others?” Her impatience wasn’t a reason to not hear the full story of what she needed to do. She didn’t want to be stuck somewhere with her thumb up her butt, not knowing what to do with the mission she’d been given.

“The artifact will be drawn to the other pieces of itself. When they’re brought together, you’ll then have the power to end it before it begins.”

“And I should… stab him in the brain with them?” She turned the crystal pyramid over in her hand. It had a sharp point but other than that, it didn’t look dangerous.

Again, Nelinha felt like she was being judged.

“What needs to be done will present itself when you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?!”

Talking in riddles. This was exactly what her father had warned her about. The Watcher hadn’t given him or his friends any clear answers either, speaking in vague terms that didn’t help anyone get anything. Like they were supposed to wait around for something else to happen..

“If I told you that, you wouldn’t take the proper measures beforehand. You’ll-”

“Figure it out. Right. That’s just like your kind.” It was Nelinha’s turn to roll her eyes. She didn’t know why she even considered asking questions in the first place. They weren’t getting her anywhere with this Guardian.

“Do your hoodoo magic then, and let me out of here.” She closed her fist around the prism. She was absolutely done with this nonsense and couldn’t wait to get back to the real world, pain and bruises and all.

“As you wish.” There was an annoyed tone to its voice before everything snapped to black. There was no face, no stars, not even the warm hum of the pyramid in her hand. Then it all snapped back into place again with a throbbing headache behind her eyes.

She awoke to find herself staring up at the ceiling, covered in those pinpoints of light. Only, they weren’t purple anymore, but an iridescent blue-green. The buzz in the air was gone too, the one that zapped the end of her tongue and put her teeth on edge. Instead of the lights remaining still, she could see that they were moving all around her. A few fell from the ceiling onto the ground beside her and out of the corner of her eye, she could see that they weren’t simple lights at all.

They were tiny beetles, no bigger than the freckle on the inside of her left wrist. These weren’t the same things she’d tried to scrape off the rock with her fingernails earlier, which made her question what of her experience in this cave had been truly real.

The answer to that question came in the form of something solid jabbing her in the palm when she rolled over to get up. On the ground sat the tiny crystal pyramid. The glow was gone, as was the warmth against her touch, but it was the same size and shape she’d seen in her not-dream. The Guardian’s words were still clear too, the task she’d been sent to do.

“Typical,” she huffed and picked it up off the ground to slip into her pocket. The little beetles scattered as she pulled herself to her feet, startled by her sudden noise and movement. Their light wasn’t as bright as what she’d traveled by earlier, so she was left to stumble around in the dark. She hissed when her boot struck a rock and sent a shiver of pain up her leg. Her hand went absentmindedly to her hip and found the space empty. Right. She’d left her Echo behind in the shuttle so that someone could trace her signal.

Eventually, the beetles all started traveling in the same direction, disappearing and reappearing somewhere else as they dipped over and around the rocky texture of the cave ceiling. Nelinha decided to follow, not knowing what else to do. The air was growing warmer and drier too, the breeze picking up a little. It wasn’t long before she could see her surroundings more clearly, a light coming in from somewhere.

Around one more bend and she spied the small cave opening, the beetles crawling out into the naked air and disappearing in view from the mouth of the cave. The sun had set a while ago but there was still just enough sunlight to make out that she was still in the desert. How far she was from her own ship, she couldn’t tell, but anything was better than staying in that cave one moment longer.

She had to crawl on her hands and knees to get out too, but that was no skin off her back. After what she’d just been through, she’d crawl into the open neck wound of a dead goliath if it meant keeping her alive.


	4. A Gift Horse's Mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha is rescued by an unlikely "saviour." As she ponders on the task ahead of her, she can't help but think about her family and what this might mean for her reputation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Siali belongs to myself and is a borrowed character from another verse.

“Hey! Over here!”

A figure in the distance waved, the tails of a long coat trailing behind him. Nelinha waved back, glad to see another human face. 

“You the one that sent out that distress signal?” they called out. There was something of a drawl to their accent and a hoarse quality to their voice that spoke volumes of how much they smoked. As they got closer, she could see that his hair was dark and cropped close to the head, and there was a hint of a scar running through his eyebrow and disappearing into his hairline.

“Yeah. I don’t need a full trip off-planet, just a short taxi over to my ship.” She stood and dusted the sand off her shirt and pants. She definitely needed a shower to get rid of the rest of it, as it was starting to itch her skin.

She found her fist clenching around the prism in her pocket. If this guy asked for payment of some kind, she could give him the guns. She needed to keep _this_ a secret or else she would fail before she’d even started.

“That so?” The figure stopped a few feet in front of her so it was much easier to see his face, his hand shielding his eyes as he turned to look at the horizon. “The one parked on the edge of the desert?”

“Yeah? How’d you-”

A gunshot cracked the air and blood sprayed out of his forehead like liquid fireworks. Her would-be saviour dropped like a stone onto his back, staring up at the sky with unseeing eyes. So much for that rescue.

Nelinha turned in the direction of the gunfire, pushing through the fog that had clogged her mind. Her Rapier appeared in her hands in sparkles of blue light, the barrel trained on the lone person stooped atop the cave entrance.

“You let your guard down pretty easy, don’t you?” A messy tangle of long hair was tied to one side over his shoulder, and there was a cocky smile on his bronzed face. His jawline was covered in a scraggly, unkempt beard that was in desperate need of trimming. The short, leather vest he wore over a simple, dirty white shirt exposed an array of patterned tattoos down both arms. “You believe anyone that says they’re here to rescue you?”

Nelinha didn’t like that tone in his voice and braced the rifle against her shoulder. Instinct told her to put one between his eyes. Common sense told her that if he wanted to kill her, he would have done so already instead of attempting a conversation.

“_That_ was Coleman. The guy your other friend was supposed to meet.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, not at all impressed by her display. He knew she knew he wasn’t going to shoot her. “He’s been here an hour now, waiting for your ass so that he could get what he paid for.”

“Next you’re going to tell me you’re not. That you’re here out of the kindness of your heart to get me off this planet.” She tightened the grip on her gun. Her palms were a little sweaty after being thrown into another incident so quickly. Couldn’t this day just give her a break?

“Oh, I’m not going to lie to you, I _ am _ here for money. But that involves rescuing you.” The large revolver in his hands disappeared, returned to his SDU, so that he could present himself as defenceless. “You got a pet… thing, right? Diablo?”

Nelinha lowered her gun a fraction of an inch. He had her interest.

“When you were fifteen, she bit you on the earlobe. Almost sliced the skin in two. You wear an earring to hide it.”

Not many people knew that story, and it wasn’t one she shared with other people she trusted either. So how did…

“Your parents hired me. Someone passed along your message to them, and they sent me here to pick you up. Said I needed a bit of info about you so that you’d know to trust me.”

“And I still don’t. Not because my parents hired you, but because you’re a straight-up dick.” She sneered back at him. Even if he was telling the truth, his demeanor left much to be desired.

“I’ve been called worse.” He shrugged, a jovial smile on his face that tried to appear trusting. She wasn’t buying it.

“But if you want to stay here,” he shrugged, “... be my guest. I already got paid either way. But that Coleman guy? Stripped your shuttle of everything she had while you were in that cave. I hear you’re smart, can fix a shuttle by yourself, but I don’t think there’s much you can do after he chucked a few grenades into the engine.”

“_ Shit _ .” Nelinha turned and kicked Coleman’s body in the ribs a few times. She’d worked hard maintaining those engines too, spending most of what she’d earned keeping it in good shape. _ Fucking asshole_. She didn’t even want to ask how bad it was, or if he’d scalped all her stuff. Knowing would only make her more upset in the process.

A quick search of his corpse revealed a few personal items, including a stack of cash, some rations, and a sizable knife.

“Let’s just get the hell out of here,” she huffed, storming up the hill towards and then past him. Now that she was paying attention, she almost stopped in her tracks when she saw her supposed rescuer’s eyes. They were pale, a silvery grey and almost reflected what little light there was left on the horizon. They were just like her father’s eyes. She didn’t know if that connected them in some way. A distant uncle, maybe?

“I know I’m that nice to look at, but you don’t have to be obvious about it.” He stood and rubbed at his beard, the pistol returned to its holster. He was tall, much taller than her dad and much more stocky. He could definitely throw around his weight in a fight if he needed to.

“Just wondering about your eyes, is all. Cybernetics?” Nelinha gave him a cursory glance in passing, a scowl still on her face. Just because he was saving her ass didn’t mean she had to be completely civil with him, not when he was still being a jerk.

“I wouldn’t let a scalpel near these babies,” he replied with a roll of his shoulder.

He hadn’t exactly answered her question, and that made her even more curious. But there were more important things to do, like getting out of here.

“My ship’s _ this _ way, by the way.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and started heading left, perpendicular to where she’d been going. Sighing, she rolled her eyes and followed.

“Name’s Siali. And you must be Nel.”

“_ Nelinha _.” Her parents were the only ones who called her Nel. “We’re not friends.”

“I know we aren’t,” he replied with a teasing smile.

And that was that. They continued the rest of the way in silence, the air growing slightly cooler the longer they traveled. Nelinha didn’t want to think about stopping, not even for the dull ache still in her ribs or the pulsing bruises that covered her body from the time spent in that cave. There would be time for griping later, once she knew she was safe and off this planet.

The ship they came to was much bigger than her shuttle and definitely looked more sleek. They were parts on the outside she’d never seen before, and in any other circumstances, she would have asked about its specs. Maybe once they were outside this planet’s atmosphere...

In they climbed, and when the bay door closed behind her, Nelinha fell into the nearest seat she could find. Her legs were exhausted, her lungs burned for more air, and she felt like she could sleep for a week.

Just as she closed her eyes, ready to sort out the chaotic messy list of things to do in her mind, the overhead light flicked on and a rough hand grabbed her chin.

“Well, don’t you look like crap.”

“And you look like a motherfucker, if we’re playing the honesty game.” Her eyes shot open and stared up at this Siali before smacking his hand away. He didn’t seem amused.

“I’m not kidding. Go clean yourself up and I’ll take a look at those bruises after we take off.” The look of concern on his face told her he was serious. Not that she really cared what he thought, but it wouldn’t hurt to get some of the grime off her face.

_ Wait… he was going to take off… _

“Shit! Wait!” Nelinha ran back to the bay door and cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling as loudly as she could.

“Di! Diablo!” Her traveling companion had been missing more than helping this entire day. She blamed exhaustion for her scattered mind, and even if Di hadn’t offered an ounce of help, there was no way Nelinha could leave her behind.

“You crazy? Anyone else that’s out here’s gonna hear you, and I don’t need them knowing about my ship.” Siali grabbed the back of her vest and dragged her back inside. But not without a fight. He stepped back when she turned to take a swing, her fist grazing the edge of his beard. She reared back to take another. He caught her by the wrist before she could and pulled her close.

“You worry too much. She’s right here,” he growled into her face before letting her go. He opened one side of his long coat to reveal a bundle of feathers and leathery skin sleeping in the crook of his arm.

Nel stared in wonderment, rubbing at her wrist. Not only had this guy been considerate enough to keep Diablo safe, but he’d also managed to gain enough of her trust for her to sleep against him. Nel couldn’t even get Di to sleep in the same room with her without an hour of screaming and flapping her wings beforehand.

Still, it was a relief that she wasn’t going to have to waste another hour or two looking for her.

“And while I’ve got you, you left this.” He presented her Echo device to her as well. It was turned off, but didn’t look any worse than when she’d left it behind.

“You didn’t look through it, did you?” she asked as she clipped it back onto her hip. Siali had gained some of her trust, but he still looked like the kind of person who’d sell you for a corn chip.

Siali returned a look that she couldn’t quite decipher. She decided it was better to assume the best than to start drilling him for answers.

“Thanks, anyway,” she mumbled wearily. She stormed past him in embarrassment and dragged herself back onto the ship. With that concern taken care of, she headed straight into the bathroom to save face and turned on the overhead light. Siali was right; she did look like crap.

Her face was stained with dirt. Barren streaks ran down her cheeks from the water of the cave. Her left eye was somewhat bloodshot in one corner and one side of her lip looked swollen. Her cheek was also bruised on that side and a few of her earrings were missing. Her hair was a mess, the collar of her shirt was torn, and one of those beetles was stuck to the side of her damp neck. Not an entirely lost cause, if she had to be honest. She was sure there were plenty more bruises under her clothes, but for the moment, she wasn’t bleeding, so there were no immediate concerns.

She flicked the bug into the toilet and flushed it.

The ship soon rumbled beneath her feet and began to tilt during its takeoff. A little warning would have been nice but she couldn’t fault him for wanting to leave in a hurry. Plus she was too exhausted to care or complain. Hand over hand she pulled herself out of the bathroom and strapped herself into the nearest seat she could find. Before heading out of orbit, they made a short stop by Coleman’s ship and then her own, just to see if she could salvage any of it. Siali had been right about that too. The hood of the shuttle was completely crumpled and burned with smoke still rising out of it. What was once the engine was just a charred black brick of circuitry. The seats and sleeping bag were shredded to hell - Coleman had likely been searching for something - and everything was absolutely emptied or turned upside down. There was nothing left to salvage, except maybe as scrap metal.

The only saving grace from all this was that Coleman hadn’t gone through her backpack. Most of her gear was still inside it, as well as a few things she would have hated to lose: a broken claw from when Diablo had tried taking on a skag by herself before she was ready, hanging from the end of a string; a small gear covered in stains of grease, a gift from her sister, Sammy; a long strip of red cloth she usually tied her hair back with; lastly, a small bottle of gun oil to keep her weapons in working order. They each had their history and their connection to her family. Anyone else would have seen them as worthless.

Ruminating on her family brought her the calm she needed after such an exciting day. She needed to distance herself from the task she’d been given, allow her mind to properly digest when she’d been told so that she could come up with a strategic plan to handle it all. She just needed a place to start…

Suddenly, she was jostled awake by a hand on her shoulder; she must have nodded off at some point. She snorted and digistructed a pistol into her palm, a scowl on her face, having woken up in unfamiliar surroundings. She peered up with confused eyes to find the pilot scowling back. What was his-... _ Siali _. Right.

She put the gun away and crossed her arms over her chest. She was still on edge after everything that had happened, her mind still in overdrive and assuming it was still in danger. Once she got a hot meal in her and a few pots of coffee, it would stop being a little bitch and calm down.

Siali offered to take a look at her bruises and she complied. His expression furrowed when he saw the one across her stomach but came to the same conclusion she had a few hours earlier: no bones were broken. Just a lot of burst blood vessels that would heal eventually, as long as she left it alone. He offered her an ice pack and some painkillers to ease most of the ache.

Siali offered her some hot food too, which she devoured quickly enough. A chocolate bar was well and good, but it did nothing to satisfy her hungry stomach; what she needed was an actual meal. While she ate, the stars passing them by through the front window, she saw Siali tip his head back and drain the last of a bottle. Then crack open a new one.

“Hey!”

“What!?”

“Do you really think you should be drinking while flying?”

Siali gestured to the empty space in front of them with a raised brow and pressed the fresh bottle to his lips. “You see any space cops that are gonna stop me? We’re not gonna hit anything.”

Nelinha rolled her eyes and put her meal to one side to snatch the bottle out of his hand. She didn’t care if there weren’t any road signs, obstacles, or governing bodies out here, or whatever he had to profess about his driving abilities while intoxicated.

She’d heard the stories when her parents thought she wasn’t listening. How her father used to be an alcoholic, what that meant for her when she was growing up and getting closer to becoming an adult. Those kinds of things are passed down in genes, they’d said. Addictive personalities, what she would be drawn to… They’d allowed her her freedom but she knew they were worried for her, their concerns hanging over her head even when they weren’t in the same hemisphere. It was a crushing experience, despite knowing that they only wanted the best for her.

And since then, she’d grown to hate people who took things like alcohol for granted, throwing their health and common sense away for a few hours of… well, whatever booze gave them. Throwing away your control was like giving up, in her eyes. She preferred having her senses about her, being in control of the situation so that she could react accordingly. Trust was few and far between in this galaxy, and she didn’t want to risk exposing herself to those who held nothing but ill will towards her.

“That’s mine,” Siali growled, turning in his chair. “I paid good money for that.”

“And you’ll get it back when we get there.”

“You’re kidding me. You’re telling me what to do on _ my _ ship?” Eyes narrowed in anger, lips thinned into a line, he looked like he was going to leap from his seat and pummel her flat. But that wouldn’t sit well with a Vault Hunter and a Siren. They would hunt _ him _ down to the edges of the galaxy and beyond if he laid a finger on her head.

“I’m _ suggesting _ ,” she corrected. She knew how respect ran on ships, even amongst bounty hunters like Siali. There were rules to follow, and one of them was adhering to the rules of a ship’s or shuttle’s captain. “I… just don’t have good experiences around alcohol, okay? So I would _ like _ it if you didn’t drink around me.”

Siali settled back into his chair and tapped his fist against the armrest. He was buying her bold-faced lie down to the very letter, apparently, as he turned back around in his chair. A surprising move, but it was telling her what kind of person he really was.

“_Fine _. But it’s going to be a few hours before we get there. You wanna sleep, there’s a cot in the back. Just put the books over on the desk.”

There were so many things to pick apart in that sentence that she didn’t know where to start. So many that it made her brain hurt to consider any of them. She decided to leave without another word instead, stumbling back through the narrow hallway and into the narrow bedroom. She gathered the stack of books in her lap and took a seat, finding the cot somewhat lumpy but at least a little comfortable. One by one, she looked at the spines. Classics. A few she’d heard her dad talk about, others she’d never heard of before but the titles were interesting.

She peered through the open door to see Siali leaning back in his chair with smoke rising from his lips. So much for one vice…

She picked out one book from the stack and slid the rest under the cot. If there was one thing that could help her sleep quickly, it was a book. But even as her eyes flitted across the pages, she couldn’t help but wonder about the task she’d been given. Her hand went to her pocket to find the little pyramid still tucked away.

_ It will draw the other pieces together_.

What did that even mean? And how was she supposed to take on this task all by herself? Saving the universe? That was something her parents were better tasked for. It wouldn’t be so hard to tell them and let them handle it, would it? They knew how to go about these things better than she did.

Yet, she knew this was the break she’d been looking for. A chance to prove herself to the rest of the Raiders that she could handle anything thrown at her. That she could be just as good at her parents at any job she was given, no matter how impossible it seemed. With such a task under her belt, they would have to give her more responsibilities and stop looking over her shoulder all the time. She could be a full-fledged Raider.

If she came out of this alive, of course. That was the one clincher in all of this.

She would have to sleep on it before she came to any decision, talk it over with her sisters, maybe. She could trust them to help her in some respect, or at least not tell their parents.

They weren’t her biological sisters, of course. Adopted siblings who both happened to be Sirens. Her mother lived an interesting life that connected her to the two; one she saved from Hyperion, the other was the daughter of the Sanctuary bartender. Nelinha would be lying if she said that wasn’t a little jealous of them at times. They seemed to be more connected with her mother sometimes when it came to their Siren powers. They practiced together when they were younger, experimenting with different ways to test them out.

All the while, she was out learning to shoot with her father. It wasn’t that she hated those times with him, but she knew that he was trying to compensate with the lack of attention from her mom. Nelinha knew she could never be like them and she accepted that for a long time. But it didn’t make the hurt any less that she would never have that kind of a connection with her own mother.

In her ruminations, the screen of her Echo flared on, revealing that she had an incoming message. Her first thought was her parents checking up on her to make sure she was okay. But what she saw on the screen was an unfamiliar Echo frequency. Hers wasn’t public knowledge. Maybe it was a spam call, some telemarketer trying to sell her something like timeshares or some new and fast way to make money.

She ended the call and tried to go back to reading.

A few seconds later, it turned on again, the same series of numbers showing up. If it was a telemarketer, they wouldn’t normally waste time trying to call her again; they would have given up and moved on. She was exhausted, but if this person was so desperate to call her back, answering would get them to leave her alone.

Nelinha hit “accept.”

“Hello?”


	5. Gaping Maw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The belligerent voice on the other end of the Echo doesn't know how to take no for an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Siali belongs to myself and is a borrowed character from another verse.

“Is there a reason you were in that cave on Eirene?”

“Excuse me? Who the hell is this?” She hated people knowing her business more than she hated being tailed. 

“Did you touch anything?” the voice asked again, much more insistent this time.

“Listen, asshole, you have five seconds to tell me what’s going on here before I hang up and block your frequency.”

“Ugh… that’s what I hate about you people. Always poking your fingers where they shouldn’t belong. I’m the one that called you, I’m the one asking the questions!”

Where the hell did this guy get off?! Nelinha wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.

“And I’m the one hanging up now!”

Nelinha cut him off before he could say anything more, turning it off so that he couldn’t call back. She tossed it towards the rest of her gear, nerves frayed and confusion clouding her mind. It seemed today would be one mishap after another, enough to warrant sleeping for an entire week once she got back to Sanctuary III. Responsibilities be damned.

“Are you alright?” Siali’s towering silhouette suddenly filled the doorway. With his face framed in shadow, his silvery eyes were the only visible features of his face.

She stared up at him in confusion, saying nothing.

“You were yelling,” he reminded her, returning an equally-confused look.

“Nothing,” she replied curtly. She could feel a headache starting to form. “Spam caller.”

Siali was about to convey his disbelief when a red light on his hip started blinking. He was receiving a message on his Echo.

“Is this the Blind Shark?!” the familiar voice bellowed out of the Echo.

Nelinha’s urge to kill was rising.

“Who is this? How did you find this frequency?” Siali unclipped the device from his hip and stared at the screen. Shaking his head, he turned it around and pointed at the frequency. Nelinha nodded; it was the same person from earlier.

“So not a spam caller,” he mouthed silently. Nelinha shook her head. There was no point in lying.

“Look, I don’t have time to explain everything to you. There’s someone on your ship that has something that doesn’t belong to her!” Half of his words were cut off from how loud he was yelling.

“One sec.” Siali fiddled with a few knobs before speaking again. “You stole something from someone?”

Stole? Nelinha had no idea what this guy could be talking about.

“I followed a goliath there to get this rifle back, fell into a cave, and then that’s where you found me, coming out.”

“And you swear you didn’t take anything?”

She refrained from sticking her hand into her pocket. The Guardian had given that to her and there had been no names on the cave claiming ownership over it. So by right, even if she had taken something, it didn’t belong to anyone.

She shook her head.

Siali unmuted the Echo as he leaned against the doorway.

“Sorry, bub. She’s got nothing that belongs to you. Have a nice day.”

He repeated her treatment of the mysterious caller and ended the conversation. What sense of relief they should have experienced, however, was replaced with the sudden shaking of the entire ship. It sent Siali stumbling down the hallway and almost threw Nelinha off the cot. Diablo managed to free herself from the confines of his coat, her sleep disturbed, and started flapping and screeching about the ship.

“What the hell was that?!”

They both ran to the cockpit to discover a much larger vessel hovering over them. Their ship was being drawn towards it, the controls straining to continue on their path but were ultimately useless. A tractor beam of some kind, by Nelinha’s best guess.

“Apparently, this asshole won’t take no for an answer.” Siali managed to regain his balance and slammed a few controls. A rumbling whir vibrated throughout the ship. At the back of her mind, Nelinha toyed with the idea that her pilot had set some self-destruct sequence to prevent them from being captured, but her worries were put to rest when she saw gunfire spraying from underneath Siali’s ship.

“We don’t know that’s him.” Siali was trying his best to sound confident and failed.

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Turret fire continued to spray the underside of the imposing ship but did nothing to halt the continued pull of their vessel. Bay doors began to open into a hungry, gaping maw, begging for the shuttle’s entry so that this could be over with. A mistake on their part, as Siali redirected the fire into the open bay.

The ship tilted and the tractor beam relented its pull; they could see lights all over the ship flicker with many of them dying out altogether. There were more appropriate times to celebrate their success, however, so he set the ship to take them out of there.

Siali wrenched at the controls to steer the shuttle in a different direction and got no response.

“What did he do?” Nelinha leaned over his shoulder to try and assess the situation, to make sense of what was broken and how she could fix it.

“Engines… thrusters… weapons… Nothing’s working.”

An EMP could have done this, but she hadn’t seen one being fired. Using one as a weapon from inside the other ship would have rendered  _ both _ ships inoperable.

The flickering lights…

“This guy’s desperate,” she replied as she racked her brain for ideas. The other ship could regain power at any moment so that they could resume their abduction once more. Siali could fire again once everything was working again too, but that would merely delay the inevitable. They could go through back and forth with this dumb game, and they would ultimately end up inside the ship anyway. There was no reason to waste their resources like this.

“Why…” She rested a hand on his arm and drew it away from the controls. “Why don’t we see what this guy has to say? Then we can punch his teeth in.”

Diablo finally calmed down and came to rest on her shoulder to preen herself.

“Not before?”

“I mean… we  _ can _ , depending on whether we like the look of him or not.” It would be hard for her not to get to them first; it would be a race between them, and she was sure that his stride would get him there before her. If Siali didn’t resort to just shooting them instead.

The mercenary leaned back in the chair and sighed, his arms folding behind his head. “Fine. But someone better pay me extra for dealing with all this shit.”

“ _ If _ we get out alive and with your ship intact.”

He sat up and turned around, looking quite distressed. “Don’t even joke around like that. This ship has been good to me.”

Nelinha held up her hands defensively. She knew firsthand what it was like to form a bond with one’s ship. To build it from scratch, take care of it, keep it maintained… She would kind of liken it to taking care of a child.

As the other ship grew closer and it grew quieter around them after he killed the engines, Nelinha also folded her arms behind her head and closed her eyes.

“What kind name is ‘The Blind Shark’ anyway?” It was honestly one of the silliest names she’d ever heard.


	6. Intermission I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes Part I.

“I don’t think you know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t think  _ you _ know what I’m doing. I have everything under control. Yet you keep trying to take this away from me!”

“We’re sinking money down the drain on these little projects of yours, and they haven’t given us any results.”

“Have you ever considered with that pea-sized brain of yours that there’s more to science than just making money?”

“Right, right, you’ve said it a million times. It’s like an adventure without a path or what’s waiting for you at the end. Well, I’m tired of drifting aimlessly along this journey of yours. I’m pulling the plug.”

“You… you can’t do that!”

“Of course I can. I’m your boss, remember? I  _ pay _ your salary, I  _ pay _ to get results. When a part in the machine doesn’t work, you throw it out and replace it with a new one.”

“That’s all I am to you? A part?!”

“You haven’t proven yourself to be otherwise. Have your stuff out of here by the end of the day.”


	7. Such Sweet Sorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha (sort of) meets the man behind her kidnapping, is abandoned by Siali, and is taken to the home of the Tediore manufacturing company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Siali belongs to myself and is a borrowed character from another verse.  
๏ Jared Finch belongs to @CaptainYams (twitter)  
๏ Audrey belongs to @percurrere (Tumblr)  
๏ Sammy belongs to @rubyredsiren (Tumblr)

The bay was completely dark for a few seconds as they sat in silence. The faint glow of the shuttle’s dashboard lights reflected off their faces as they waited. Nelinha half-expected that a small troop of soldiers would storm in with weapons and arrest them on the spot. Images flashed through her mind: standing in front of a firing squad, sending her last message to her parents… all over some dumb trinket. If the Guardian hadn’t given this to her and spoken to her, she would have gladly surrendered the small prism and gone on her way.

She heard the click of Siali’s pistol when the overhead lights of the bay finally flickered on and the door at one end opened. A single man stood there, dressed in a suit that wasn’t put together very well. He strode towards them with his hands shoved into his pockets, and the closer he got, the less seriously Nelinha took his appearance.

His dark hair was slicked back against his scalp, but there were errant fly-aways that made him look more unkempt than he intended. The suit, though nice, was wrinkled in a lot of places and the arms of the grey tie he wore weren’t even. The white shirt underneath wasn’t tucked all the way into his slacks and his shoes looked like they hadn’t been polished in a good while. He honestly looked like someone _ trying _to play at businessman.

“You can come out now,” he called out to the shuttle, sounding more annoyed than demanding.

Nelinha and Siali stared at each other for a second, wondering what the best course of action was. This guy didn’t sound anything like the person on the Echo. He was definitely calmer and not at all as belligerent as the barking voice from earlier. This definitely wasn’t the guy.

Still, they weren’t going to take his word for it that everything was going to be civil. There was another click from Siali’s gun before he opened the door, the pistol still in its holster but ready to be drawn and used at a moment’s notice.

Nelinha wasn’t going to follow suit in arming herself. The man didn’t even look armed, much less dangerous. She could take him out with a simple stranglehold if she needed to. He didn’t look like the type that could fight back either.

“Well, you two don’t look happy. I’m Jared Finch.” The man held out a hand in greeting, but neither of them was interested in a handshake. He looked a little offended and ran the hand through his hair instead.

“Don’t care who you are, man. We just want to know why we’re stuck here.” Siali had no problem stepping into his space and posturing. Whatever intimidation tactic worked.

Jared Finch didn’t flinch one bit. He side-stepped Siali and turned his attention to Nelinha, looking not at all impressed with the posturing.

“Is there something wrong with your big friend here? What’s gotten you two so pissed off?”

Nelinha raised her brow and shrugged. Was he just pretending to be stupid?

“Weird guy called us earlier. Twice. Screaming at us about something that belongs to him?”

He sighed.

“I don’t know who that was that called you, so whatever you think I did or whoever you think I am, I’m not.”

“And we’re just supposed to believe you?” Nelinha folded her arms over her chest.

“What else do you have to go on? I’d admit it if it was true, I don’t have any real reason to lie.”

“You kind of just tried to kidnap us? That doesn’t exactly paint you favourably.” Nelinha gestured to the shuttle in disbelief. How did this guy think he was going to absolve himself from what had just happened?

Jared pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again.

“My _ employer _ sent me here. Everything that… _ happened _ wasn’t my doing. Trust me, I don’t know the first thing about flying a ship. I hire people to do that for me. The ship is automated, controlled from a remote location.” He waved his hand dismissively, the other still pinching at the spot between his brows. “Can we sit down and talk somewhere more civilly, please?”

“And we should go with you just because you ask?” It was Siali’s turn to chime in. His ship was taken, he was stuck here in this shuttle bay, caught up in affairs that weren’t his, and he wasn’t doing _ other _ jobs to keep his cash flow rolling. It was already looking to be a bad day for him. “You took my ship!”

“That is not my fault!” Jared yelled back. “I’m a people person, a representative. I don’t know the first thing about hostile takeovers or kidnapping or neutralizing people’s ships. Look, I’m here because my boss has intel that you’ve gotten your hands on something that could help Tediore finally get back on the board.”

Tediore. _ The _ Tediore? If he’d started with _ that _, Nelinha might have considered paying him more respect. But that revelation begged the question as to how they knew where she was and what kind of business she was involved in.

“So you _ did _ get your hands on something…” Siali slowly turned towards her, looking betrayed.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Never said I didn’t.” She shrugged, not daring to meet his eye. So much for staying on his good side. “You asked me if I stole anything.”

Siali threw his hands into the air, rolled his eyes, and headed back to his ship.

“You can have her, Mister Tediore. This is between you two and I don’t want any part of it. My job’s done here.”

“It’s Finch, not Ted-”

“Hey! You told my parents you were bringing me back to the ship!” she yelled after him. Just when she was beginning to trust him too; she would have preferred going back with him than being stuck here. She might have even considered hiring Siali to take her where she needed to go to collect these other pieces. It wasn’t likely that this Jared Finch was interested in taking her back either.

“If you’re gonna lie to me, there’s no reason I gotta keep a promise to them. I still got paid.” Siali turned and spread his arms in a wide bow. “Good luck out here, Nel. Don’t ever call me again.”

Nelinha stared in disbelief as he got back into his ship. This wasn’t happening. This _ couldn’t _ be happening. She turned to stare at Finch, who shrugged, his mouth twisted to one side in confusion. He wasn’t going to get involved in matters that weren’t his.

“He’s your prisoner, isn’t he? You can’t just let him go. He fired at you!” she blurted out. Anything to get Siali to stay, even turning on him, seemed like a good idea at the moment.

“My boss did just ask for you, soooo no. I can’t.” He shrugged again.

One by one, Siali carried out her belongings and stacked them in the open doorway. Each time he would stop and glare at her before going back for more. It was understandable he was upet, but if he had been in her shoes, she knew he would have done exactly the same thing.

Lastly, he returned with Diablo in his hands, her wings pinned to her sides. She was pecking at his knuckles, twisting her leathery neck back and forth to do as much damage as possible. Siali didn’t even flinch despite the pricks of blood that rose from her bites. It showed on his face, though, that she was doing a good enough job at getting back at him.

“I think this is yours.” He pressed the screeching, feathery mass against Nel’s chest and turned away. She barely had time to get a grip on Di before he was out the door and back in his ship, shaking the pain and blood from his fingers.

Diablo calmed down a little and muttered a quiet squawk in her face. She and Siali definitely weren’t friends anymore

As the thrusters finally flared to life, the bay doors opened and the ship descended. That was supposed to be her ride and it was leaving without her. Talk about an already shitty day getting worse.

Jared cleared his throat.

“We have a few hours before we’re back at HQ. Perhaps you’ll want to get some sleep before then. You look… pretty tired.”

And crappy. She still hadn’t gotten the chance to clean up and she probably smelled just as bad. She tucked Diablo onto her shoulder and went to retrieve her bags. It surprised her to find Finch at her side, taking up some of the bags himself. She wasn’t going to question it; if he wanted to help, she had no reason to stop him.

The ship was much larger than the previous one, so she wasn’t surprised to be presented with a much larger bunk of her own. There were no books to read, but she had the space to stretch out instead of curling up on a single bunk. It was completely empty, like it had never been used before.

“How free am I to move about the ship?” she asked after dumping her bags on the bed. She needed to know if she was a guest or a prisoner.

“As long as you’re not going around poking things or… trying to blow us up, I think we’re okay.” Finch laid her bags in the corner of the room, then leaned back with his hands on his hips until there was an audible pop. “As for your, uh…”

“Diablo.”

“Yes. As for Diablo, please make sure it-”

“She.”

“Make sure she doesn’t crap all over the place or anything. Or make a roost in the… _ anywhere _. Like I said, this isn’t my ship.”

“Aye aye, captain,” she replied sarcastically with an awkward salute.

It wasn’t until he was gone and the door closed behind him that she started unpacking her stuff. There was a simple change of clothes shoved into the bottom of her backpack, one she couldn’t wait to get into after a hot shower. Diablo herself found a choice spot up near the ceiling in one corner of the room, and tucked her head under her wing for another nap.

Stripped down to nothing, Nelinha took a look at herself in the bathroom mirror, waiting for the water to get warm. She _ did _ look as awful as Siali had said: the bruise across her abdomen looked sickly in the weird green overhead lighting and was much bigger than she originally thought. There were other bruises covering her body too, spider-webbed across her shoulders and arms in mottled off-colours. A few nicks and scratches were scattered across her skin,but those didn’t concern her. She was already covered with enough small scars that they would blend into the background.

Something tickled at her back, and when she turned around, she found another of those small glowing beetles on her back. Hissing her teeth, she plucked it off and threw it into the shower.

“I thought I got rid of you already.”

The tiny thing squirmed as it tried to right itself, its legs flailing every which way. But the more it struggled, the closer the water swept it towards the drain until, finally, it disappeared down the holes in the floor.

She dreaded having to turn the water off some twenty minutes later when she realized it was starting to get cold. The hot water on her skin had felt so good, she didn’t want to leave the shower. Exhaustion was getting the better of her, though, and she was eager to get to bed for a good night of sleep.

At least, that was her plan before her Echo flared to life once more while she was getting dressed. This frequency she _ did _ recognize but she wasn’t too eager to answer. She couldn’t exactly ignore them, however, because they would just call back again.

“Sammy…” she said dryly. The young woman with a red mark down the side of her face glared into the screen.

“And Audrey!” Another bespectacled face pushed itself into view, her sisters’ brown hair tangling together. The two older Sirens had become her family through unfortunate circumstances. Audrey had been rescued from Hyperion by their mother, taken from an unfortunate life of experimentation. She hadn’t been born a Siren; rather, she was the result of some morbid attempt to create one. She’s lost her voice in the process, and now spoke with a special device strapped to her neck, or sign language, if she was feeling secretive.

Sammy was a different story; she was the grandchild of their Father’s ex, her mother having run off somewhere and abandoning her in Moxxi’s bar. There were worse people she could have been left with, but Nel’s mother had seen it fit to take the young girl under her wing and help train her in her powers.

Despite the different backgrounds, the two Sirens had one thing in common: their powers granted them flight of some kind. Nel remembered watching them zoom around when she was growing up, wishing that she could be up there with them. Even Diablo, as a young chick, had taken to training her wings up there with them.

“Ya gonna fly different from ‘em,” her father had whispered in her ear one day when he’d noticed her look particularly down. “You don’t need wings like those to go soarin’.”

He always had a way of doing that, picking up on others’ moods and saying the right thing to get them to cheer up. That came with his old line of work, she imagined, watching people all day and learning their tells.

She’d believed him too. What else could she do, not knowing any differently? After years of it, however, it was hard not to feel a little jaded. But she didn’t let it show; she already had enough in her life to be thankful for.

“You look like shit,” Sammy said with something of a drawl and looking very concerned.

“Hey. Swear.” Audrey thumped her on the shoulder. Sammy shot back a look.

“I’m pretty sure mom and da aren’t going to shove mouth down her soap, Auj, since you don’t live with ‘em anymore.” Nel fell back onto the cot and hugged the pillow to her chest. She could have fallen asleep in seconds, she was so tired.

The pair had moved to Athenas to heighten their training with their Siren powers. They’d heard of the monks who lived there, how they’d trained Maya to become a living weapon. Their skills weren’t really fitted for combat, but it didn’t hurt to expand their minds and see what they could really do with a little bit of guidance.

“Is there a reason you’re not back on the ship yet? Mom and dad were expecting you about an hour ago.”

Shit. She should have expected that they would have all been in contact with each other once her rescue signal had been found by someone. Looking back at it now, it didn’t feel like that much of a big deal.

“I’m… busy.” She knew once she told them about her “encounter” with the Guardian, they’d book the first flight they could get to help her out. She wanted this one to herself, for once.

“Aw, c’mon sis. Don’t be like that,” Sammy huffed.

“Ugh. Don’t be like what?”

“You’re avoiding.” Audrey pressed herself into view, her mouth downturned. Despite being the smallest of the three, she was the most vocal. It didn’t help that she was running her own bandit camp, of all things, with her girlfriend. Nelinha still wasn’t sure how she managed to pull off that one.

“Yeah. You ever stop to think I’m doing that for a reason?” She rolled her eyes and propped her head up on her arm. “You and Sammy got your secrets, I’ve got mine.”

“We don’t have any secrets!” It was Sammy’s turn to pull the Echo away and scowl at her.

“That so? You two’ve always had your little fun time group with mom growing up, working at your Siren powers. I didn’t get to be a part of that little club.”

“Not this again…” Audrey stepped out view with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive wave.

“You know it’s not like that, Nel. You not being a Siren doesn’t make you any less important. I mean, you got your mom and dad’s blood in you. That makes you more than special.”

Nel felt a pouting session coming on, as childish and undeserving as it was. People called her lucky for having the parents she did. Most people she knew didn’t even have parents, or the ones that did wish they hadn’t.

“Blood’s fine and all, but that doesn’t make me special. That just means I got great parents.”

Sammy’s frown grew deeper.

“The three of us do. … what’s this about, all of a sudden? Why’re you being so salty?”

Nel rolled over, wishing they weren’t having this conversation right now. Or at all, for that matter. She was already on edge and didn’t want to blow up at them for no reason.

“I’m not being salty. I just want to do something on my own for a change, okay? I don’t want people looking over my shoulder all the time. I don’t need you and Auj always being there to rescue me. I can take care of myself and it’s about time someone recognized that.”

Silence settled over the room, to the point that Nel was afraid they’d hung up on her. The last thing she wanted was for them to part on bad terms.

“I’m tired, okay? Can we talk about this in the morning?” She could already feel herself nodding off.

More silence, then muffled whispering before they answered. “You promise you’ll call us?” Audrey adjusted her glasses and averted her eyes. She didn’t like confrontation, especially with family.

“Promise. First thing as soon as I wake up. I’ve been through too much today and I just want a break.”

“And if you don’t call us, we’re telling mom and dad.”

“You do that. Good night.” Nelinha rolled her eyes as she turned off the Echo. She didn’t know what exactly they could tell their parents other than they’d had a conversation and she looked a little beaten up. She’d honestly been through worse and her parents weren’t _ that _ smothering to freak out at every little bruise she got.

It was impossible to tell when she’d fallen asleep but she knew it couldn’t have been for very long when there was a knocking on her door. Her brain still felt like pudding, her eyes burned, and her limbs still felt like dead weights.

“Go away,” she mumbled and pulled the pillow over her head.

“Miss Nelinha, we’re here.”

Finch. She still didn’t know what his deal was, other than acting like a messenger boy for his boss. He still hadn’t told her why he needed her to come along; he hadn’t even asked for the prism still in her pants pocket. He would have had to fight her for it, of course, and lose, but that made it all the more questioning why they needed her too.

“Can you… like, come back in an hour or something?”

There was a heavy sigh on the other side of the door. “Unfortunately, no. We’re already docking and I have no interest in keeping my boss waiting. Be ready and dressed in five minutes, please.”

She heard his footsteps slowing fading away. There was honestly nothing to stop her from going back to sleep and making them waiting anyway, but knowing that they were at their destination would keep her guessing as to her purpose here and prevent her from getting back to sleep. She just wanted to get it over with so she could get back home.

Diablo hadn’t moved all night and was still asleep when she got dressed. Glancing at the clock on her Echo, she’d only gotten about five hours in. Definitely not the right time to give her sisters a call either.

“Promises are meant to be broken sometimes.” She tugged her bootlaces tight and double-knotted them. They were still moist on the inside from her dive in the cave, which wasn’t going to elevate her mood whatsoever. The idea of a hot meal stirred her insides, rousing her hope for a better start to this day.

She wondered where Siali was now… then quickly wiped the thought from her mind. It was weird to have a complete stranger give a crap about her that way, even if he’d been paid to do so. Something about the way he actually gave a damn about his work, no matter what job was given to him, that stuck with her. Maybe with a decent apology and a _ lot _ of money, she could still hire him to-

… nope. He’d said never to call him again. Shit.

She gathered her things and nudged Diablo awake, who gave her the look of death for disturbing her sleep.

“You wanna stay here, fine. But I’m not coming back. You snooze, you lose.” Nelinha shrugged and headed out the door without another look. Diablo gave a tired screech and caught up with her, settling on top of her head.

Jared Finch was there to greet her by the dock, giving her a look and tapping on his wristwatch. Nelinha gave him the finger in response. “Don’t get an attitude with me, Mister Finch. I’m working on my own time, not yours. You have a problem with that, I can just leave. But that’ll leave you empty-handed, and then what’ll you tell your boss?”

Jared scowled at her, saying nothing. Instead, he turned and headed towards the buildings at the other end of the small dock. Others passed them going in the other direction, likely attendants and mechanics to take care of the ship. Nelinha didn’t understand how people could trust others to make such repairs without knowing what they were doing. As far as they knew, they could be putting in the wrong part or not doing any work at all and still getting paid. But she supposed it only made sense; if she had a ship this size to herself, it would take her the better part of a month just to look over everything to make sure it was in working order.

Tediore wasn’t known for being one of the most popular manufacturers in the market, but Nelinha did marvel at how well their technology worked. Turning the act of reloading into a weapon itself was ingenuity at its finest. It was too bad that the guns didn’t have more power behind them.

So she had no expectations once she stepped inside that this place would be anything glorious or expensive-looking. But what she saw wasn’t exactly comforting either. The place looked less like a corporate headquarters and more like a warehouse being rented out. There were people running back and forth, papers scattered everywhere, and nothing was arranged in any order that resembled an office. People with too-cheerful voices were talking on phones way too loudly, to the point that it made Nelinha’s teeth ache. The chaos of it all was enough to make Diablo feel unsettled.

“How do you work like this?”

“What?!”

“I said…” She quickened her pace to keep up with him and cupped her hands around her mouth. “How do you work like this!?”

“I don’t. I do most of my work from home. This is just the P.R. Department, so not everything is like this.”

Seeing this kind of working atmosphere made Nelinha quite thankful that she freelanced her own way through life. She couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk all day, doing menial paperwork and expect not to lose her mind. She needed to be out there, in the middle of the action and actually making a difference. Not making phone calls and trying to appease higher-ups. That was the mindset of a sheep, not someone who wanted to succeed and have a say in their own life.

The next room wasn’t as hectic but still disorganized. The employees here were much quieter but seemed to be working at a feverish pace to get something done.

“This is our R&D. They’re trying to prototype some new-”

“Oy! Shaddup, will you?!” one man yelled from a corner of the massive room. He probably had no idea he was talking to someone above his pay grade and likely didn’t care.

Jared straightened his jacket in disgust and kept on going.

“Bright bunch, not the best in people skills. Or anything else for that matter.”

Another few rooms, and they finally came to an elevator that was the first place she noticed that wasn’t covered in paper.

The glass elevator shook and rattled as they headed up, the light of the P button glowing extraordinarily bright. The sight of blank grey concrete walls finally gave way to a view of the docks, the ships, and the small city beyond. It wasn’t a glamorous sprawl like Promethea, but it was definitely sizable enough for her to get lost in.

The ride continued in silence until the contraption they were in finally dinged, indicating that they were at their destination.

“This is you.” Jared gestured for her to step off the elevator, putting on his best polite smile.

“You’re not coming with,” she said in passing. She thought he would want to be here for this since he’d been the one to drag her all the way here.

“This isn’t a conversation for my ears, to be honest. Plus you’ve already expressed your annoyance with my presence and I wouldn’t want to aggravate that further.” His polite grin blossomed into something more sarcastic as the doors began to close. “Since you prefer working on your own schedule and all that.”

Nelinha was about to protest, shove her arm in the doors to stop them from closing so that she could try to get on his good side again, have someone with her she recognized so that she could have someone to back her up. Instead, she was left alone to face the music by herself, conversing with the head of an entire corporation on her own.

She watched as the numbers over the closed doors lit up in descending order. She was fine, this was fine. She’d faced much worse things on her own, dangers most people would cringe at. What was one man with some fancy words?

She curled her fingers around the prism in her pocket and headed down the strip of red carpet towards the large double doors.


	8. Amaze-Mint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha is made an offer she can actually refuse, but would she want to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Jared Finch belongs to @CaptainYams (twitter)

The first thing that greeted her nostrils when she stepped through the doors was the smell of peppermint. It was strong enough to make her sneeze and her eyes water.

“Bless you,” came from the other end of the room.

Standing there was a man in a well-polished silver-grey suit and a light blue tie. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he definitely knew how to carry himself well. The bright lights overhead bounced off his shaved head, though his face remained with stubble that was a few days old, or at least very well-kempt. This guy was definitely the opposite of the havoc and chaos that was taking place downstairs.

“Ah. Welcome to Tediore, Miss Nelinha. I can call you Nelinha, yes?”

The man gestured to the seat across from his large desk with a hand flourish before folding his arms behind his back. He was tall, with a quiet smile that was looked quite secretive but also charming. It put her on edge and calmed her at the same time.

The room itself wasn’t very big, but it was still quite elaborate. Clean, organized, with potted plants on either side of the room as some kind of decor. There were small plaques lined up on one wall, too far away for her to read what they’d been rewarded for, but they looked well-polished and cared for. The walls were the same as the floors, made of a grey material that looked smooth but didn’t feel that way under her boots.

“I’d prefer Miss Ijeoma, if you’re looking for a pleasantry to use.” Nelinha took her seat, but remained alert. She still didn’t know what this meeting was for and didn’t want to get too comfortable.

The man bellowed a laugh as he stepped around the desk and headed to one side of the room. In typical fashion, there was a silver tray laid out with glasses and a small carafe of filled with something purple. It was almost too stereotypical to take seriously.

“Excellent. Miss Ijeoma, then. I’m Shawcross, the executive head of Tediore. Thank you for coming here so soon.” Shawcross returned with the glasses in hand, half-filled, an offered one to her. His eyes were trained on Diablo, who seemed more interested in preening herself than paying him any mind.

Nelinha took it with a nod, sniffed it, and placed it on the desk before her. Poisoning aside, she wanted to remain sober for anything he had to say.

This was all too much for Diablo, who took off in search of a perch somewhere near the ceiling. Finding on, she tried to perch on one of the plant fronds and found it incapable of holding her weight. That aggravated her further and, with a squawk, returned to Nelinha, choosing the arm of the chair to curl her taloned toes around.

“You realize you didn’t give me much choice, right? You kidnapped us and dragged me here.” Was this guy playing at stupid or simply ignoring what he’d just done.

He took a sip himself before sitting down behind the large desk and propping himself up on his elbows.

“Yes, as for that… My actions were desperate, bordering on illegal, but I didn’t intend you any harm. But you must understand, we’ve been trying to get our hands on one of the Eridian artifacts for years now, and everyone keeps beating us to the chase. Having one in our grasp could mean the difference between this company sinking or not.” Shawcross cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, realizing that his emotions and desperation might have gotten the better of him.

“Excuse me. First, I have to offer my apologies for forcing you here. The needs of a company shouldn’t come before the health and well-being of a single human person. My judgment may have been impaired in that moment, but I assure you, I have no intention of forcing you to do anything else. In fact, I’m interested in hiring you to work for us.”

Nelinha folded her arms over her chest and looked to the plaques on the wall again. This almost sounded too good to be true. He was offering her a job instead of arresting her or demanding she hand over what she had. There had to be a catch somewhere in all of this.

“You’re probably trying to figure out if this is a scam or not. I can assure you it’s not.”

“And I’m just supposed to take your word for it?”

“No.” Shawcross pulled a drawer open and retrieved a folder. He slid it across the table to her for her perusal. “A contract. Legally binding, stating what the nature of this working relationship will be.”

As solid as it sounded, that didn’t make her any less suspicious. Contracts had loopholes, and loopholes could be manipulated to screw someone deep into the ground. She was no lawyer either, so she didn’t know what legalese could be used against her in the long run. Still, she pulled the folder closer and dropped it into her lap.

“When does this offer expire, exactly?”

“Expire? Oh, there’s no expiration date at all. You can leave and think this over for as long as you like. To be honest, if you never get back to me, I’ll take that as your answer. You’re holding all the cards here.”

She was, wasn’t she? She had what he needed, and couldn’t move along any further with whatever this project was without her. She could make her stamp on this place and be remembered for something other than being the child of two famous people.

But she knew when to tuck her ego behind her common sense and not let it get the better of her.

“Before I even consider signing this, how about you answer a few questions for me.”

Shawcross spread his arms and leaned back in his chair.

“I don’t see the harm in that. You need to know what you’re getting into, after all.”

“How did you know I was on that planet? How did you know where to find me on Siali’s ship?”

“A fair question. When you…  _ found _ whatever it was you found, it put out a distinct signal my science team has been trying to track. Think of it… like old-time satellite dishes. You point them in the right direction, trying to find a signal. The spike was enormous, it was hard to miss.”

Nelinha deflated internally. So much for keeping this a secret. It was amazing how the Guardians could be both subtle and extra at the same time, contradictory with their words yet being so obvious in ways they didn’t expect to be. With all their smarts, they could be a little dumb sometimes.

“I see. And you want to examine them for what reason exactly?” She chanced another sniff at the drink just to maintain the air of being interested in what he had to say.

“Improve our technology, mostly. We make our guns super affordable, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look to the horizon. Everyone else has improved in what they have to offer in the way of armaments and I’d like to maintain the competition. Stay on my toes.”

“That still doesn’t tell me  _ what _ you plan to do with them.” It sounded like a nice message and all, but that was just gift wrapping on a box of mystery. She wanted to know what lay underneath.

Shawcross sighed; he couldn’t avoid this, he supposed.

“You know how our guns work, yes? A digistructed version of your gun right in your hands, no need for reloading. Well, who do you think owns that technology?”

It didn’t take long for her to put the pieces together: Hyperion was the one responsible for digistructing technology around here.

“Our contract with Hyperion is not only getting expensive, but it’s also giving them a monopoly in the market. If we can find our own methods of producing the same effect, something that gives us an edge over Hyperion, there’s no reason we shouldn’t take that chance.” Shawcross sat up in his chair, hoping he’d made his case.

“That sounds like a personal problem to me. How do you even know these artifacts will help you with that problem?” It sounded more like he was groping around in the dark for a solution, not that he knew how these artifacts actually worked.

“I don’t, but what choice do I have? It may not fix the digistructing problem, but they could give us some insight into what other kinds of improvements we could make. If you’re worried what you’re getting out of this, we can pay you handsomely.”

“I’m not in this for the money. You’ve seen what happened every time a company gained ground with an Eridian artifact. First Atlas, then Hyperion. That hasn’t exactly set the precedent for any kind of trust.”

“I understand that, believe me. No one wants a repeat of what people have had to go through. Hence why I came to you. Your family history speaks for itself, what you’re capable of. I would be an idiot if I tried to double-cross someone like you and have you parents at my throat.”

Nelinha’s brows furrowed. She hadn’t exactly professed where she came from or who her family was. Even her last name wasn’t that popular, so the fact that he’d put two and two together put her on edge.

Sensing her discomfort, Diablo pecked at the sleeve of her shirt and cocked her head to one side.

Shawcross templed his fingers together and leaned back in his chair even further.

“You think I dug into your background or that I’m spying on you. That’s hardly the case. It’s hard to deny that you have your father’s scowl, especially when you’re looking at me like that. His bounty posters were once spread across the entire galaxy for the stunts he pulled, it would be stupid not to notice the resemblance. Or to keep tabs on which pies he had his fingers in these days.”

“ _ Gross _ .”

He raised his hands up defensively, a look of shock on his face.

“I didn’t mean it like  _ that _ .” He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. Red-faced, he took another swig of his drink, throwing back the contents of the entire glass. It took all he had to recollect himself and get back to the conversation.

“All I’m saying is, I have no intention of crossing you. You’ll be paid for the work you do, we examine the artifact you have, take what data we can, and then you can do with it what you like.”

_ That  _ wasn’t something she was expecting to hear. Corporations were usually filled with greed and espionage. For him to suggest that she could have them back… well, she could get paid  _ and _ still complete her given task at the same time. Not to mention that this Shawcross could actually help her figure out what they were for too. The Guardian had said they would bring the other pieces together, but hadn’t mentioned anything about its true purpose.

“Think of it this way, Miss Ijeoma. You can help us, which I would be eternally grateful for. Or my science team can wait for another of those signals and find another artifact ourselves. Those things seem to be littered around the galaxy like dust bunnies, so it’s inevitable we’ll get our hands on one anyway.”

In that light, that meant she could keep an eye on them as well, see what kind of research they were really doing instead of being blind to the entire situation. Not to mention that if they did get one of the pieces  _ she _ was looking for, there was no way she could wrestle it away from company hands. At least this way, if she got to them first, their truth would be revealed before she had to hand them over.

Maybe bringing her sisters into this  _ could _ be of some use too, since they would have better knowledge on how or if the artifacts were being misused. And she’d have backup, if things truly did get out of her hands.

It felt like backsliding to admit that she could accept help, after so many years of trying to make it on her own and not feeling envious of their Siren powers. But even Nelinha could be humble enough to admit that maybe, some of this was a little beyond her expertise. It wouldn’t hurt to have extra pairs of eyes either, in case she missed something. Or maybe Audrey and Sammy knew a little more of what the Guardians and Eridians did after their years of studying on Athenas.

It couldn’t hurt, she kept telling herself. It couldn’t hurt because the last thing she wanted was to look foolish for going this alone.

“What would be your protocol on me building my own team? Just as a hypothesis?” The words squeaked out of her as she finally took a sip of the drink. It was pleasant but much too strong for her tastes. “In case I need help with all of this.”

“That would depend on how they feel about signing NDAs.”

His curt answer left much to be desired but it didn’t seem like a bad deal to her. Now what remained is whether her sisters were interested in the job.

“I need to give this some thought. But I’ll keep in touch when I do.” Nelinha stood from her chair and extended a hand over the table. Shawcross blinked in surprise, not expecting that she would show such a gesture, but met her halfway to shake her hand.

“This was a pleasure. It’s nice to finally put a face to someone who’s going to change history for this company.”

“Just don’t go start naming guns after me. That would make me sound… disposable.”

Shawcross laughed at that, exposing his too-perfect teeth. It was a little unsettling.

“I look forward to hearing from you, Miss Ijeoma. But don’t wait  _ too _ long. Even without the expiration date, time is important and we will go looking for others without you.”

“No skin off my back,” she shrugged before taking her leave, giving a sharp whistle over her shoulder for Diablo to follow. With the resources she had under her belt and no red tape to work through to get to where she wanted, it would be easier for her to get to them before Shawcross could even pick up a pen. Of course, he had the advantage of technology on his side which would give him a leg up on finding the artifacts first; she would be shooting in the dark, relying on the pyramid in her pocket to do the work for her. And who knew how accurate it was going to be.

Jared Finch was there to greet her when the elevator doors opened. He looked like he still hadn’t gotten any rest.

“Nice to see you again, Finch. Get up to much while I’ve been up here?”

He replied with a disinterested hum, his head buried in whatever was going on on his Echo.

“So much for being the people-person of this place. … the button. Unless you want us to stand here on the top floor all day.”

That seemed to snap him out of his trance and he jabbed his thumb against the 1.

“Sorry. Busy. You know how it is. Or not. I don’t know how you run your life. How was your meeting?” Finch’s brow furrowed deeper as he worried at the screen of his Echo.

“Quite pleasant, actually. Your boss could definitely charm the pants off a skag.”

That earned her a look of confusion and his mouth twisted to one side.

“You must have gotten on his good side somehow. He’s nothing but surly when it comes to anyone else around here.”

“Maybe I’m the first competent person he’s met. Plus I have what he’s looking for. Maybe it’s time you stepped up your game, Finch.”

He rolled his eyes and went back to work. The rest of the ride to the first floor was just as quiet; she kept her curiousity at bay when the flurry of his typing became feverish. Something was obviously up. Her assumption was confirmed when he bolted out of the elevator doors as soon as they were open. She was tempted to ask but convinced herself it was something likely more mundane than she expected. Like a printer jam or a department running out of pens or something. Either way, she was left to her own devices to make her way back to the docks and mill around until someone approached to tell her her ship was ready.


	9. Intermission II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes Part II

“You want to tell me what you’re doing?”  
“Care to be more specific?”  
“You have one job. One task to get done and you’re-”  
“What I do with my time is no concern of yours. As long as I’m getting the project done, you have no say-so about what I do otherwise.”  
“Is that so? I can always contact your department head.”  
“Sure, if you want to waste your time. Now how about you get out of my space and let me work?”  
“You think this is a joke.”  
“I think you’re a joke.”  
“Excuse me!?”  
“You heard me. You’re a joke. Strutting around here, thinking you make a difference, when we all know you’re nothing but a monkey in a suit with no imagination of your own. A pencil pusher. You’re not an idea man, you’re a puppet on a string!”  
“I swear, if you weren’t so good at your fucking job-!”  
“You’d what? Hit me? Have me fired? You can’t touch me. The sooner you accept that, the easier things will be between us. Now run along, monkey, go do your boss’ bidding.”


	10. Little Blue Beetle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelinha returns to Sanctuary III and discusses the mission with her sisters. They go to "extreme" measures to decipher what the artifact actually does, but it takes them in the right direction towards their next goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ๏ Nelinha Ijeoma belongs to both @the_tentaprince (twitter) and myself  
๏ Audrey belongs to @percurrere (Tumblr)  
๏ Sammy belongs to @rubyredsiren (Tumblr)

"

Nelinha’s arrival back on Sanctuary III was met with cheers and plenty of hugs from her worried parents. She swallowed back on her embarrassment, knowing that they needed this after the message she’d sent. But even their heartfelt greetings were met with worried questions: where was the man they’d hired to bring her back? Why had she taken such a long time coming back? Whose ship was that they’d briefly seen dropping her off?

Answering any of them would mean telling them the truth, and she wasn’t quite ready to divulge what she’d been up to for the past day and a half. Siali, she told them, had gotten into an argument with her and dumped her off on the nearest dock, where she found and hired another pilot to take her here. It had taken some time, of course, given how busy people were, how generally unsafe the majority of the pilots there looked, and not wanting to smuggle herself onto cargo ships.

They should have called, they said.

To that, Nelinha only shrugged. They knew she could take care of herself, that if she was in real trouble, she would have asked for their assistance in a heartbeat. Plus, what was there to worry about now? She was in one piece, wasn’t she?

What she hadn’t expected was that their concerns would rein in the presence of her sisters, Audrey and Sammy, from their studies on Athenas. They tackled her into a pile on the floor, filling the hallway with echoing laughter. Nelinha took it all in stride. They’d missed her and she wouldn’t fault them for that. And it was a good distraction from continuing to explain things to her parents.

They, too, lost track of the conversation when Diablo burrowed her way out of Nelinha’s vest and dove right at her father’s tangled mess of dreads. It was a habit she wouldn’t give up, not when Mordecai had been the one to mostly raise her from a chick. It didn’t help that he was covered in the scent of Talon too, Diablo’s mother.

In the midst of all the chaos, Nelinha whispered to her sisters to meet her in her room in a few hours. To come alone, and not to tell anyone about it.

Sammy and Audrey looked at each other, concerned, and nodded in agreement.

Before heading to her quarters, she slid into Hammerlock’s room and presented him with the object he’d requested: the Jakobs rifle, safe and sound. The wood of the stock was still a little damp, but he took it all the same. Rain, she commented, when he asked how it had gotten this way. An explanation she thankfully didn’t have to delve any further with Wainwright right there. He began drilling Hammerlock with questions as to why he had to hire the young girl to find the gun he’d presented to him as a gift.

Hammerlock hesitated, searching anything and everything in the room for an adequate answer. Nelinha left before he could find one, not wanting to get caught in the middle of whatever lover’s spat was about to take place.

  
  


“So that’s what I know so far. Do you think you guys would be up for it?”

Audrey and Sammy sat in front of her on the floor, knees folded together. They looked much different than the last time they’d spoken in person. Taller, more lean, and definitely stronger.

Audrey had always been the shorter of the two, but she’d still grown in height. She still wore her brown hair in a bun and the thick-rimmed glasses perched up as high on her nose as she could get it. A light purple scarf was still wrapped around her throat to hide the device she wore: a speech modulator to help her communicate with those who didn’t know sign language. She’d lost her voice a long time ago while she was an experimental project run by Hyperion. Despite the things she’d learned, she was still sensitive about the subject of her voice.

Sammy had every bit of her grandmother’s face, the infamous bartender who now ran her very own casino. A shock of short, medium-brown hair stuck out every which was and the way she smiled, you could never tell whether she was genuinely happy to see you or was up to some little prank. Never harmless, of course, but she was always in it for a laugh.

What made them unique were the Siren markings that ran down their arms: Audrey’s was a light purple while Sammy’s was a blood-red. Other than that difference, their powers dwelled in the same realm: flight. It was either coincidence or fate that brought them together at the behest of Nelinha’s mother, wanting to look out for the young Sirens and keep them safe from everything bad in the universe. With no families of their own, it was only natural that they gravitated to Akachi, not too long before Nelinha had been born.

“We can’t let you have all that fun by yourself,” Sammy said, punching her fist against the palm of her hand. “If you had us with you, you wouldn’t have gotten stuck in that cave.”

“If you’d been there with me, the Guardian would have picked one of you instead to get the job done,” Nelinha replied with a roll of her eyes. It wasn’t often she felt special, no matter how many times her parents had told her as such throughout her life.

“You don’t know that,” Audrey chimed in as she adjusted her glasses. “Everything happens for a reason.”

Nelinha waved her off dismissively, peering at the door to ensure that no one was listening it. It was easy for news to travel around Sanctuary III and get back to their parents. If they heard, there was no doubt that they would be against it and intervene to ensure that their girls were safe, despite being in their twenties. Mordecai and Akachi had had enough interactions with corporations that their opinions on this Shawcross guy would be sullied before they even met him. And the last thing Nelinha wanted was to be babied.

“Where do you think we should start?” Sammy followed Nelinha’s gaze and checked over her shoulder; they were still in the clear.

“That’s the thing. I have no idea.” Nelinha pulled the pyramid out of her pocket and laid it on the floor between them. “I don’t know how reliable this thing is at showing the way. I was hoping it would before I gave Shawcross an answer. Just so we’re ahead of the game.”

“Maybe if…” Sam snatched the pyramid off the floor and immediately dropped it again with a yell. “What the hell?! It burned me!”

The short-haired brunette presented her hand to the others to reveal a burn mark on the middle of her palm. But there was something about it that was unsettling. Nelinha squinted her eyes and swore she saw markings of some kind, maybe even words. If this was how she was supposed to figure it out, then the Guardian’s sense of humour was quite morbid.

“Sam… how much do you trust me?” she asked warily.

“What do you mean how much do I-... Oh no.” Sammy was already retreating, scooting back on her behind as she cradled her burned hand against her chest.

“Look… what that thing left on your hand kind of looks like writing. Maybe that’s how I’m supposed to figure it out?”

“How would the Guardian know you had access to a Siren?” Sam was liking this idea even less now and wanted no part of it.

“I guess if I was an actual Siren instead, I’d have to burn myself…?” Nelinha wasn’t going to question why any of this did or didn’t make sense. She was just happy that she found the first hint that might lead her in the right direction.

“Come on, we get this over with, we get a hypo in you, everything will be good once we figure out what it says.  _ And _ , here’s the best part, we can get this done and give Shawcross what he wants while still getting paid for it.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one getting burned.”

“I mean, I  _ do _ have two of you.” Nelinha shrugged.

Audrey recoiled in fear, static pouring out of her voice modulator. She wished her sister was kidding but she knew Sammy couldn’t take the brunt of it all. Audrey would have to play her part at some point.

“If we’re doing this, I’m getting drunk first.” Audrey pointed a finger in Nel’s face, scowling. She had already been through too much as is, she wasn’t fond of the idea of becoming another “test subject,” paid or otherwise. “And you’re buying.”

“Fair.”

The smell of burning flesh soon filled the room as Sammy smothered her face into a pillow. Even with the door shut and locked, it didn’t hurt to be too careful about someone else hearing the muffled yells coming from her.

“There.” Nelinha removed the pyramid from her hand to take a look. The weird characters were definitely easier to read, but the language was completely unknown to her.

“My best guess would be Eridian, but neither of us have gotten that far in our studies.” Audrey adjusted her glasses, quite contented that she wasn’t the subject of examination. “All of this might not have been worth it if we don’t know how to read it.”

“There’s gotta be a database somewhere we can figure this out. Someone must’ve started trying to translate this shit by now…” Nelinha didn’t want to believe she’d hit a deadend already, just when they were starting to make progress. She quickly took a picture of Sammy’s hand so that she could get some medical attention, then started her search of the Echonet.

Audrey took out her own Echo and started the search too. PhD papers, research articles, corporation documents… there was a lot to pore through when it came to Eridian research. The majority of them sounded hypothetical, however, theories that produced no real scientific breakthrough on the subject matter.

Until something finally caught her eye.

“Why does it smell like burning in here?”

Audrey and Nelinha turned around to discover their mother in the doorway. Sammy had forgotten to close and lock the door behind her when she left for the medbay. Now, the two were left to face the consequences and having to come up with a good explanation that wouldn’t result in making their mother upset with them.

“You haven’t taken up smoking, I hope.” Akachi Ijeoma stepped into the room and continued to sniff at the air.

It was obvious she hadn’t passed on her height or figure to Nelinha; she was shorter and curvier than her own daughter. Her light pink hair was done up in long braids swept up into a large bun on top of her head. She had a touch of gold on her eyelids too, which was the most makeup she usually wore on a day-to-day basis.

Carrying herself with an air of authority Nelinha wished she could carry, she went from one part of the room to the next in search of the mysterious smell.

“What’s the big deal? Dad smokes,” Nelinha replied. She was taking a risk arguing with her mother, but it was a risk that would hopefully lead away from the truth of the situation.

“That doesn’t mean you need to start. It does bad things to you and I don’t want to outlive you.” Akachi turned over smaller things in the room, looking for the culprit responsible for the smell. Nelinha quickly shoved the small crystal pyramid back into her pocket.

“You don’t have to worry. I tried it once and hated it, okay?”

“That still doesn’t explain the smell in here. … and where’s your sister?” Akachi turned to Audrey next when she couldn’t find the source of the smell. She wouldn’t find her answer there either.

_ We were taking a look at my voice modulator and one of the wires went on the fritz _ , Audrey signed, then adjusted her glasses nervously. Her hands started moving at a frantic pace. “The smell of the burning made Sam sick so she went to the medbay to get something. And to see if Zed could help with fixing it, I guess.”

“He doesn’t know the first thing about electronics,” Akachi gestured and spoke at the same time. “Why were any of you messing with it in the first place?”

_ I thought I could make it more efficient, you know, so that that static stuff doesn’t show up every time Auj gets too excited _ , Nelinha indicated, keeping her signs small and close to her body. Signing made it so much easier to lie when her mother couldn’t hear the inflection in her voice. She hated to admit that she and her sisters got away with a lot of stuff over the passing years by using sign to explain away some of the mischief they got into.

Akachi looked back and forth between the two to see who would crack first. When neither of them flinched under her glare, she gave in. She couldn’t punish them for something she couldn’t prove they’d done.

“Fine. But next time, take your work to the garage. Ellie is better helping with that kind of stuff.” Her gesturing was quick and abrupt before leaving the room. She had better things to do than babysit twenty-year olds.

They both breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed again. Audrey practically deflated; she never had a good poker face, and lying to her mother wasn’t something she could do easily, not after everything she’d done for her.

“You think she’ll figure it out?” she asked.

“Nah, it’s not the first time that thing’s broke, or that I’ve fiddled with it. We should go see if Sammy’s okay and figure out what this says.” Audrey tapped on the symbols she’d scribbled down on a piece of paper.

  
  


“I think this one’s an E?” Sammy tapped her stylus against the screen they were crowded around. Papers were scattered all across the floor, filled with notes and symbols as the three tried to figure out what had been written on Sammy’s hand five hours ago, the wounds having now healed.

Nelinha was lying on her back on her bed, her arm draped over her eyes. She’d given up twenty minutes ago trying to make any sense of this. They weren’t getting anywhere and none of the academic papers they’d found had had anything to do with translation. It was slowly becoming a lost cause at this point.

“You think this Shawcross guy might be able to help?” Audrey removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

“I don’t want to give him more info than we have to. The fewer people who know about this, the better I’m gonna grab some food. Anyone want anything?” Nelinha sighed, her brain feeling like a weight sitting in the bottom of her skull.

“I’ll have a burger if they have any.”

“Grilled cheese for me.”

Nelinha rolled her legs off the bed and pushed herself to her exhausted feet. She stepped around the working Sirens on the ground and stumbled out into the hallway. Thankfully, the mess wasn’t very far from her room but she couldn’t be sure they had anything decent left at this hour.

The overhead lights flitted on when she stepped into the empty room. The long rows of buffet-style serving tables were empty; no steam rose from them to indicate there was any food left. Everything else had been put away too, which meant she was on her own making meals. Having spent most of her life on the ship, however, meant that she knew were mostly everything was. A quick trip past the counter took her to the kitchen and the large walk-in freezer in the back where the majority of the food was kept.

A frozen patty dug out and some bread, condiments from the cupboards, cheese from the fridge. For herself, she grabbed a bag of potato chips and a jar of salsa to tide her over. She didn’t have the energy to figure out what she wanted to eat.

She returned minutes later with warm food in hand and her own tucked under her arm to the sounds of Sammy and Audrey speaking in heated tones. That roused her worry and quickened her pace.

Once she was in, she shut and locked the door behind her.

“You guys forget we’re on a ship? People can hear what you’re saying.” She slid the hamburger to Sammy and the cheese sandwich to Audrey; both the meals had been cooked in the microwave.

They fired looks at her before digging in. Their noses wrinkled in disgust, but they were much too hungry to protest.

“What’s got you two so excited?” Nelinha shoved a handful of chips into her mouth as she worked on the lid of the salsa jar.

“I think we might have figured things out. They’re not letters. They’re coordinates. Numbers. We sort of figure out a few of the patterns so we can make out some of them.” Sammy took another bite of her burger with a grimace.

“Okay… so what if we pull up a map…” Nelinha pulled out her Echo as Audrey read off the numbers to her. The map of the galaxy was big with many parts of it still unexplored. The coordinates brought her to a specific quadrant of space, far from where Sanctuary III was. Pretty far from any of the other planets she’d gone to before. This wasn’t going to be a short endeavor, not by any means, and that meant their parents would catch on eventually that something was out of the ordinary. Apart from Sammy and Audrey being at Athenas for their studies, they’d never been away from Sanctuary III for an extended period of time.

“That reminds me… how much time did your teachers give you to be away from classes?” Nelinha asked without looking up from the Echo. She was checking out each planet in the star system in turn to see if there was anything out of the ordinary that would give her a clue.

A tiny blue flickering light appeared on the screen that drew her attention away from her sisters’ responses. Deaf to their words, she watched as it got brighter and brighter, then started to move on its own erratically. At first she though her Echo was broken and gave it a good shake. But after smacking the side of it, the little “blue light” tumbled down the screen and onto her lap.

What the hell? It was one of those beetles again. She thought she’d seen the last of them back on Siali’s ship. Furrowing her brow, she picked between her fingertips and turned it over. It continued to wiggle its little legs at her, struggling to get free. To find one of these things in so many places didn’t sit well with her.

She tossed it onto the ground and stomped her boot on it. The crunch that came from it was unnatural, like it was made of something much harder than chitin. When she removed her boot, the bug looked like it had splintered into tiny pieces of ceramic, surrounded by a tiny splat of purple fluid.

“Nel?”

Did that thing follow her from the cave? Was the Guardian keeping tabs on her somehow to ensure she was heading in the right direction?

“Nel.”

How was a stupid little bug supposed to help? And how did it even get this far? She’d changed her clothes, had a shower, hopped several ships and one corporation, so how did they  _ still _ manage to show up?

“Nel!”

Snapped out of her unanswered thoughts, Neliha realized that she’d been silent for several minutes, staring at the floor. Only there was no bug there now. Not even a spot of purple goo that had been smooshed out of it. It was like the bug had never been there.

“What are you doing?”

“I… I saw something. You didn’t see… you don’t see anything on the floor, do you?” She sat on her haunches and pointed at the spot where it once was.

Audrey and Sammy looked at the spot she pointed at and shook their heads.

“We saw you stomp the ground for some reason. We just thought you were pissed.”

How much should she tell them? Would they write her off as crazy and take her to the infirmary? That would be the end of everything and she wouldn’t be able to see this through to the end.

Or seeing these beetles could be a sign of something bigger, something more serious. The question remained whether it had to do with the Guardian or her own mind. She couldn’t be losing it, she thought. Things like this didn’t just…  _ happen _ all of a sudden. Unless that fall in the shuttle had rattled her harder than she realized...

“Nel?”

“Yeah, yeah… uh…” She blinked and shook her head, trying once more to focus on the galaxy map on her Echo. The same quadrant still lay before her, sans the blinking blue light. But where it had first appeared on the screen now sat a single planet with a single moon. She zoomed in on the area to read the specs.

“Euros,” she muttered under her breath. She didn’t know why this place felt right but it was something in her gut she couldn’t ignore. It was the same dipping, dropping sensation she’d felt back in her dream with the Guardian.

“I think it’s there.” The longer she stared at the little planet, the more she felt it calling to her. She both hated it and loved it at the same time.

“What about Shawcross? Are we going to call him? Tell him we’re gonna work with him?” Sammy peered at her over the papers she held in front of her face.

Nelinha blinked. She’d completely forgotten about him. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She was starting to get somewhere in all of this, and the prospect of success was intoxicating.

“Fuck that guy. We don’t need his money.”

Nor did she fell the need to share any of this with anyone else. She wanted to keep all of this for herself. Because she deserved it, after everything she’d been through.

And she had every intention of keeping it that way.


End file.
